 Central European currenciesheld stable and stock markets mostly edged higher even thoughglobal investor sentiment suffered from worries of a secondcoronavirus wave as lockdown measures are being lifted. Infection rates in Germany jumped and new clusters ofinfections appeared in China and South Korea. Currencies in the region were mostly stable, with the Czechcrown underperfoming peers and losing 0.17 of its value to theeuro on the day, trading at 27.556 versus the common currency. The Czech crown was weakened last week by thehigher-than-expected 75-basis-point rate cut by the centralbank, the third in a series of reductions aiming to mitigate theeconomic effect of the pandemic. The CNB is not ruling out using any tool at its disposal ifit can no longer lower rates despite needing to ease monetaryconditions further, board member Tomas Holub said on Monday. The Czech central bank on Monday cut its forecast for the2020 public sector balance to a deficit of 4.8 of the GDP froman earlier estimate of a 0.3 surplus. The crown was further weakened by the fresh CNB forecastsand Holubs comments on Monday, according to a Commerzbankanalyst note. Further data is due for publication tomorrow inflationand on Friday first Q1 GDP estimate, and once again thingsmight get uncomfortable for koruna, the analysts added. Elsewhere, the forint was trading at 350.10 versusthe euro, down 0.07 on the day. The forint has settled on this narrow range between 348 and352 to the euro in the past week, a trader in Budapest said. It is waiting for a new impetus to start going into eitherdirection, this could be fresh data about the Hungarian economyor a step from the central bank, he added. As economies are slowly starting to lift the lockdownmeasures, investors could start to be more influenced bynational news besides developments in the pandemic, anddifferentiate between regions once again, the trader added. The forint has recently outperformed its regional peers asit was strengthened by the central banks policy tightening andby the slow start of the NBHs QE program last week. The NBH is holding another tender today, and offered to buyadditional amounts of the 2030A, 2031A and 2038A governmentbond series from local lenders. Results will be announced at1100 GMT. The bank bought 79 billion forints 243.8 million worth ofgovernment bonds from local banks last week, including 50billion worth of the same three series at the inaugural tender. Most regional stock markets edged up by 0740 GMT. Budapest equities were up 0.18, Warsaw gained 0.33while Bucharest lost 0.35. Pragues blue chip index led gains, adding 1 asutility company CEZ reported a jump in first-quarternet profit. Shares of CEZ were up 2.67 by 0900 GMT. CEE SNAPSHO AT MARKETS T 0940 CET CURRENC IES Latest Previou Daily Change s bid close change in 2020 EURCZK Czech EURHUF Hungary 0 0 EURPLN Polish EURRON Romanian EURHRK Croatian EURRSD Serbian 0 0 Note: calculated from 1800 daily CET change Latest Previou Daily Change s close change in 2020 .PX Prague 894.65 885.940 0.98 -19.81 0 .BUX Budapest 34969.6 34908.1 0.18 -24.12 4 2 .WIG20 Warsaw .WIG20 1592.56 1587.31 0.33 -25.93 .BETI Buchares 8376.99 8406.04 -0.35 -16.04 t .SBITO Ljubljan .SBITO 799.55 798.02 0.19 -13.64 P a P .CRBEX Zagreb .CRBEX 1543.33 1544.34 -0.07 -23.50 .BELEX Belgrade .BELEX 667.62 667.62 0.00 -16.72 15 15 .SOFIX Sofia .SOFIX 450.43 449.77 0.15 -20.72 Yield Yield Spread Daily bid change vs Bund change in Czech spread Republic CZ2YT 2-year s CZ5YT 5-year s CZ10YT s Poland PL2YT 2-year s PL5YT 5-year s PL10YT s FORWARD 3x6 6x9 9x12 3M interba nk Czech Hungary Poland Note: are for ask FRA prices quotes Additional reporting by Jason Hovet in Prague 