 The forint firmed half a percenton Wednesday and outperformed its regional peers, helped byrelatively high Hungarian short-term market rates and theNational Bank of Hungarys slow start of its bond-buyingprogramme this week. The forint gained 0.43 on the day and traded at348.35 versus the euro, recouping significant losses since ithit an all-time low near 370 on April 1. Policy tightening by the previously ultra-dovish centralbank has helped shore up the currency, said Peter Virovacz, ananalyst at ING Bank. He added that Hungarian short-term marketrates were now relatively high in the region. The euro also weakened after a German constitutional courtruled that the Bundesbank must stop buying government bonds ifthe European Central Bank cannot prove those purchases areneeded, and this probably helped Central Europes currencies tofirm, Virovacz said. The third factor supporting the forint was likely the NBHsbond purchases on Tuesday at its first auction, which at50 billion forints 154.50 million came in below marketexpectations. At face value, what investors see is that this is not anaggressive front-loaded programme and this probably has calmednerves, Virovacz said, adding that the central bank wouldlikely also buy government bonds this week on the secondarymarket. But I dont think this means the forint will head towards340 now, I expect it to trade in a range between 350 and 355 inthe second quarter, he added. The global mood has worsened since yesterday, so it isuncertain whether the forint can break the 350-levelpermanently, CIB Bank analysts added in a client note. Elsewhere, Central European stocks and currencies werelooking for direction on Wednesday. As countries are preparing for a gradual lifting of lockdownmeasures introduced to curb the spread of the coronavirus, thepossibility of a new wave of infections and escalatingU.S.-China tensions still worry investors. Stock markets in Budapest and Prague eased0.55 while Warsaw was down 1 by 0751 GMT. Bucharests bluechip index was up 0.9. The Czech crown firmed 0.1 while the Polish zloty was stable at 4.5325 to the euro. Polands central bank should not have cut interest ratesearlier this year as the move contributed to the weakening ofthe zloty, which is now undervalued, Polish rate-setter KamilZubelewicz said in an interview. Manufacturing surveys PMI across central Europe on Mondayshowed a grim picture, with manufacturing activity in Poland,the Czech Republic and Hungary at or near record lows. BMW will delay the construction of its plant in Hungary aspart of cost-saving efforts, the companys CFO said onWednesday. The Czech finance ministry will hold a government bondauction later today as it ramps up borrowing to financeemergency measures aimed to ease the economic effects of thecoronavirus pandemic. MoF has already covered 90 of their financing needs, Komerční banka said in a client note. Assuming however the final deficit would match the latestprediction of 300bln CZK this year, probably that number wouldeventually be amended upward. CEE SNAPSHOT AT MARKETS 0951 CET CURRENCIE S Latest Previous Daily Change bid close change in 2020 Czech 27.0120 27.0420 0.11 -5.85 crown Hungary 348.3500 349.8600 0.43 -4.94 forint Polish 4.5325 4.5315 -0.02 -6.09 zloty Romanian 4.8220 4.8200 -0.04 -0.70 leu Croatian 7.5710 7.5735 0.03 -1.66 kuna Serbian 117.5100 117.5600 0.04 0.05 dinar Note: calculated from 1800 CET daily change Latest Previous Daily Change close change in 2020 Prague 871.53 876.3200 -0.55 -21.88 Budapest 34415.81 34604.44 -0.55 -25.32 Warsaw 1583.86 1598.84 -0.94 -26.34 Bucharest 8159.48 8090.58 0.85 -18.22 Ljubljana 796.90 796.68 0.03 -13.93 Zagreb 1537.88 1537.55 0.02 -23.77 Belgrade .BELEX15 662.34 662.85 -0.08 -17.38 Sofia 448.37 448.37 0.00 -21.08 Yield Yield Spread Daily bid change vs Bund change in Czech spread Republic 2-year 5-year 10-year Poland 2-year 5-year 10-year FORWARD 3x6 6x9 9x12 3M interban k Czech Rep 0.29 0.29 0.33 0.90 PRIBOR Hungary 1.36 1.31 1.25 1.09 BUBOR Poland 0.29 0.30 0.30 0.68 WIBOR Note: FRA are for ask prices quotes 1 323.6300 forints Additional reporting by Jason Hovet in Prague; Editing by Ramakrishnan M. 