By Leos Rousek

 
TODAY'S CALENDAR 
 
Local/GMT 
    N/A    Slovak, EU, Ukraine talks on gas flows 
    N/A    Polish oil refiner PKN Orlen 1Q results 
    N/A    Czech oil refiner Unipetrol 1Q earnings 
 1000/0800 Polish March retail sales

Talks on reverse supplying natural gas from Europe to Ukraine are likely to be keenly watched on Thursday.

EU-member Slovakia, which borders Ukraine, is offering to supply the former Soviet country up to 9 billion cubic meters of gas a year through its underused pipeline that links the eastern Slovak town of Vojany with the western Ukrainian town of Uzhgorod. This way Slovakia would avoid reversing gas flows in its section of a bulk pipeline, connecting Russia and the EU via Ukraine, which supplies more than 50 billion cubic meters of gas a year to Europe.

Earlier the month, Russia's state-owned natural gas company OAO Gazprom said it would eliminate discounts that Ukraine had received on its natural gas purchases from Russia. The reduced prices had been negotiated before the recent escalation of political and military tensions between Kiev and Moscow. Moscow has threatened to halt gas supplies to Ukraine unless Kiev pays its overdue gas bills.

Facing gas shortages ahead of the next winter, the Ukrainian government has sought to negotiate emergency supplies of energy from its nearest EU neighbors who in turn rely on Russian gas.

In Warsaw, crude oil refiner PKN Orlen SA (PKN.WA) will release its earnings for the three months to end-March. It is expected to have swung to a net loss of 9 million zlotys from a profit of PLN145 million in the year-earlier quarter, as lower oil prices squeeze production margins at its less efficient Lithuanian refining unit.

In Prague, Unipetrol, the largest Czech refinery that is majority owned by PKN Orlen, will release its first-quarter earnings. It is expected to have posted a small profit owing to cost cutting at its two local facilities. No market consensus for the company's results was available.

 
FOREX 
 
EUR/CZK 
Latest 0150 GMT 27.454-66 
Previous 2150 GMT 27.437-67 
%Chg +0.03 
 
EUR/HUF 
Latest 0150 GMT 306.96-7.32 
Previous 2150 GMT 306.85-7.32 
% Chg   +0.02 
 
EUR/PLN 
Latest 0150 GMT 4.1866-908 
Previous 2150 GMT 4.1856-903 
% Chg  +0.02 
 
FIXED INCOME 
 
Hungary 
         Wed    Tue 
3 yrs   4.46%  4.43% 
5 yrs   4.70%  4.65% 
10yrs   5.59%  5.56% 
 
 
Poland 
         Wed    Tue 
3 yrs   3.03%  3.04% 
5 yrs   3.52%  3.52% 
10yrs   4.11%  4.12% 
 
 
Czech Republic 
         Wed    Tue 
3 yrs   0.43%  0.44% 
5 yrs   0.88%  0.88% 
10yrs   1.93%  1.93% 
 
 
STOCKS 
 
WIG 20 
2,453.48-5.82-0.24% 
 
BUX 
17,774.54-110.02-0.62% 
 
PX 
1,007.80-4.40-0.43% 
 
 
OTHER NEWS

POLAND: Polish lawmakers quarreled Wednesday over whether Pope John Paul II should be honored with a parliamentary declaration to mark his canonization as a saint, a sign of growing secularist forces in his predominantly Catholic homeland.

UKRAINE: Russia warned on Wednesday that any attack on its citizens in Ukraine would be considered an attack on Russia itself, as the Ukrainian government resumed its military operation against pro-Russian militants who have taken over several cities in the eastern part of the country.

Write to Leos Rousek at leos.rousek@wsj.com

Go to http://blogs.wsj.com/emergingeurope for the new WSJ and Dow Jones blog on Central and Eastern Europe, covering business, politics, society and more, written by our correspondents across the region.