Hungarian Forint Higher Against Euro And Dollar

Monday during early deals, the Hungarian forint climbed to a 2-week high against the euro and a 2-day high against the US dollar ahead of the Hungarian central bank rate decision.

The Hungarian central bank is set to announce its interest rate decision at 8.00 am ET. The central bank is widely expected to cut the base rate to the lowest level since July 2006 to 7% from 7.5%.

Policy makers have slashed 2 percentage points off the key rate since July and said they will continue to ease monetary policy as long as financial stability is maintained. Last month, the central bank had lowered the policy rate by 50 basis points.

The Hungarian currency that was worth 267.05 against the euro at Friday's New York session close, reached 266.40 by about 3:35 am ET Monday. This set a 2-week high for the forint. If the local currency moves up further, 266.25 is seen as the next upside target level.

The forint edged up against the US dollar and rose to a 2-day high of 178.35 by 3:35 am ET. On the upside, the immediate likely resistance for the Hungarian currency is seen at 178.2 level. At last week's New York session close, the pair was quoted at 179.17.

From U.S., the National Association of Homebuilders is scheduled to release the results of their survey on homebuilders' confidence at 1 pm ET.

Bernanke is scheduled to speak at a San Francisco Fed conference on 'Asia and the Global Financial Crisis' in Santa Barbara, California.