CEE MARKETS-Forint slides on EU funding fears

       By Alan Charlish
       WARSAW, Nov 24 (Reuters) - The Hungarian forint
 weakened on Thursday after media reports that the
European Commission was going to withhold funding for Budapest
due to concerns over the rule of law.
    On Wednesday, German paper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
reported citing unnamed sources that European Commission
officials have concluded that Hungary has not sufficiently
fulfilled its promises on the fight against corruption and will
recommend 7.5 billion euros be earmarked for Hungary be frozen.
    Following the report, the forint weakened and bond yields
rose. At 0923 GMT on Thursday, the Hungarian currency was 0.85%
weaker against the euro at 414.15.
    "This weakening is clearly about this EU funds story, there
is less and less confidence that Hungary will be able to get
access to these funds," said Peter Virovacz, senior economist at
ING Bank in Hungary.
    Long-term Hungarian government bond yields were 20 basis
points higher on Thursday, with the yield on the benchmark
10-year bond at about 8.20%, a fixed-income trader said.
    "The market stabilized by yesterday evening after the steep
rise in yields, and now liquidity is so low that it is easy for
yields to jump 20-30 points in a short time," the trader said.
    The Polish zloty was 0.16% weaker at 4.71 in thin
trade, as markets in the United States were closed for
Thanksgiving.
    "Today is the turkey day ... basically this is really an
abandoned market," said a Warsaw-based currency trader. "There
is little volatility, little interest from the investor side and
we are basically range-bound."
    Benchmark 10-year Polish bond yields fell 18 basis points to
6.658%, after minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting this
month showed a "substantial majority" of policymakers agreed it
would "likely soon be appropriate" to slow the pace of interest
rate hikes.
    "The publication of minutes ... confirmed investors' belief
that a Fed pivot is possible and there are chances for lower
interest rate hikes in the near future," PKO BP said in a note.
    The Czech crown was flat at 24.35.
                  CEE     SNAPSH   AT
                  MARKET  OT      1023
                  S               CET
                          CURREN
                          CIES
                          Latest  Previo  Daily   Change
                                  us
                          bid     close   change  in
                                                  2022
 EURCZK  Czech    0    !       !
 EURHUF  Hungary  00      00               %
 EURPLN  Polish   EURRON  Romania  %
 EURHRK  Croatia  EURRSD  Serbian  00      50       %       %
         Note:    calculated              1800
         daily    from                    CET
         change

                          Latest  Previo  Daily   Change
                                  us
                                  close   change  in
                                                  2022
 .PX     Prague           1239.8  1234.8   +0.40
                               0     900       %
 .BUX    Budapes          45120.  44930.   +0.42  -11.04
         t                    77      52       %       %
 .WIG20  Warsaw   3       1       %       %
 .BETI   Buchare  96      50       %       %
 .SBITO  Ljublja  0       8       %       %
 .CRBEX  Zagreb   5       7
 .BELEX  Belgrad  .SOFIX  Sofia    %

                          Yield   Yield   Spread  Daily
                          (bid)   change  vs      change
                                          Bund    in
         Czech                                    spread
         Republi
         c
 CZ2YT=           0      ps
 CZ5YT=           0      ps
 CZ10YT           ps
         Poland
 PL2YT=           0      ps
 PL5YT=           0      ps
 PL10YT           0      ps
                  FORWAR
                  D
                          3x6     6x9     9x12    3M
                                                  interb
                                                  ank
         Czech    Hungary  Poland   Note:    are for ask
         FRA      prices
         quotes
         ***************************************
         ***********************
 (Reporting by Alan Charlish in Warsaw, Anita Komuves in
Budapest; Editing by Anil D'Silva)