The Slovak crown eased by 20 hellers against the euro on August 9 and more than 30 hellers against the dollar.
This was mainly due to a current crisis in the US real estate market, the consequences of which are beginning to affect European markets.
According to OTP Banka Slovensko dealer Eduard Pracko, problems on international markets on August 9 were set in motion by an announcement by the largest French bank BNP Paribas that it had temporarily frozen the activities of its funds due to current problems on the American mortgage market.
The crown opened the day at 33.23/27 SKK/EUR, before suffering significant losses along with other currencies in the CEE region (except the Czech crown) later in the day. Shortly before the closing bell, it stood at 33.43/44 SKK/EUR.
Meanwhile, the greenback was registering significant gains against the crown's reference currency, the euro. As a result, the crown eased against the US currency - from 24.07/09 SKK/USD in the morning to a closing rate of 24.41/42 SKK/USD.
-TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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