CEE MARKETS-Currencies flat, crown dips as diplomatic row with Russia escalates

By Anita Komuves BUDAPEST, April 19 (Reuters) - Most Central European currencies were flat on Monday, while the Czech crown edged lower as diplomatic tensions between Russia and the Czech Republic escalated. The Czech Republic on Saturday expelled 18 Russian diplomats after saying that two alleged Russian spies were behind a deadly explosion at a Czech ammunition depot in 2014. As a response, Russia on Sunday expelled 20 Czech diplomats. The Czech crown edged down 0.12% to trade at 25.935 versus the euro, showing little reaction to the diplomatic row that has added to western tensions with Russia. The Russian rouble dipped amid concerns over Western sanctions against the country. In Hungary, the forint edged up 0.06% to 361.25 to the euro, keeping stable after underperforming the region on Friday. The forint slid more than 1% last week as the currency weakened in a correction after weeks of steady gains and as investors unwound short zloty positions, which caused a flow in the zloty-forint trade on Friday, traders said. "This level around 360 seems realistic now, there was no reason for the forint to strenghten further. Neither the fundamentals, nor the technical picture supported that," a Budapest-based trader said. Elsewhere, the Polish zloty was unmoved. The Romanian leu ticked up 0.02% to 4.9265 per euro as the government Ratings agency Standard & Poor's upgraded Romania's outlook to 'Stable' from 'Negative' on Friday while keeping its sovereign rating on the lowest investment grade saying it viewed the centrist government's fiscal consolidation agenda as credible. Most stock markets in the region gained, tracking markets in Europe and elsewhere as world shares traded near record highs on pandemic recovery hopes. Warsaw led gains by adding 1% while Prague was 0.27% higher and Bucharest gained 0.3%. Budapest slid 0.26%. CEE SNAPSHO AT MARKETS T 1111 CET CURRENC IES Latest Previous Daily Change bid close change in 2021 EURCZK= Czech EURHUF= Hungary 0 % EURPLN= Polish % EURRON= Romanian % EURHRK= Croatian % EURRSD= Serbian 0 % Note: calculated from 1800 daily CET change Latest Previous Daily Change close change in 2021 .PX Prague 1106.76 1103.780 +0.27 +7.75% 0 % .BUX Budapest 42885.7 42997.61 -0.26% +1.85% 8 .WIG20 Warsaw 2033.27 2012.27 +1.04 +2.48% % .BETI Buchares 11180.8 11147.32 +0.30 +14.03 t 6 % % .SBITOP Ljubljan <.SBITOP 1047.47 1045.54 +0.18 +16.28 a > % % .CRBEX Zagreb 1879.27 1878.67 +0.03 +8.05% % .BELEX1 Belgrade <.BELEX1 764.77 761.70 +0.40 +2.16% 5 5> % .SOFIX Sofia 515.44 513.66 +0.35 +15.17 % % Yield Yield Spread Daily (bid) change vs change Bund in Czech spread Republic CZ2YT=R 2-year ps CZ5YT=R 5-year ps CZ10YT= ps Poland PL2YT=R 2-year ps PL5YT=R 5-year ps PL10YT= ps FORWARD 3x6 6x9 9x12 3M interba nk Czech 0.43 0.63 0.87 0.36 Rep Hungary 0.95 1.12 1.26 0.79 Poland 0.25 0.24 0.33 0.21 Note: are for ask FRA prices quotes ********************************************* ***************** (Additional reporting by Jason Hovet in Prague; Editing by Rashmi Aich)