http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aZRwR340AeBs June 9 (Bloomberg) -- Latvia’s currency strengthened the most in three years, approaching the upper limit of the country’s peg, after central bank purchases drained liquidity.
The lats strengthened 0.71 percent to 0.7005 per euro at 9:32 a.m., the biggest gain since June 30, 2006. The lack of lati may force the central bank to sell the currency this week, allowing it to bolster foreign reserves, according to Kaspars Jansons, head of treasury at Parex Banka AS.
The central bank has bought about 644 million lati ($1.28 billion) worth of lati this year to keep the currency in its trading band against the euro, removing them from circulation. The tightened liquidity helped push the Rigibor overnight rate to a record 21.6 percent yesterday.
Latvian President Valdis Zatlers said yesterday that the government plans to cut 500 million lati ($994 million) in spending from the budget in a second reading so the country can receive its next payment of a bailout loan.
The news also resulted in gains for Sweden’s krona and Swedish bank shares. Swedbank AB, the largest bank in the Baltic states, rose 2.7 kronor, or 7.4 percent, to 39.4 kronor in Stockholm trading yesterday while SEB AB, the second-largest bank in the region, added 3.5 kronor, or 12 percent, to 32.7 kronor. Today, the krona snapped two days of declines against the euro, strengthening to 10.8496 at 9:08 a.m. Swedish time in Stockholm, from 10.9159 yesterday.
The lats is pegged to the euro around a 1 percent target mid-point in a quasi-currency board system where the central bank backs money in circulation with foreign currency reserves. Latvia like neighboring Lithuania and Estonia, is a member of the pre-euro exchange-rate mechanism and pegs the lats to the common currency.
TL/DR izvilkums latviski:
Vakar lata kurss veicis garāko augšup palecienu pret Eiro kopš 2006. gada vasaras.
Galvenais cēlonis gan nav nekas īpaši pozitīvs - tikai centrālās bankas veikts akrobātisks manevrs, kas ir tieši pretējs naudas drukāšanai. Rezultātā - nakts Rigibors nu jau uzkāpis līdz galvu reibinošiem 21,6%.
Tomēr - ņemot vērā, ka kāpj arī Latvijas dikti jaukās uzvedības paskrāpētā zviedru Kronas un zināmu banku akciju kursi - maziņš, maziņš iemesls prieciņam varētu būt.