Eastern European currencies hit highs against the euro

The Czech crown passed the key psychological barrier of 30 crowns to the euro on Thursday, hitting the highest point for two and a half years of 29.95 crowns to the single European currency in morning trading. Vis-à-vis the US dollar, the crown is stable, trading around 23.02 crowns. Analysts explain the development by investors' expectations of strong December trade figures being published on Friday. Other Eastern European currencies strengthened sharply against the euro on Thursday as well, leading the Slovak central bank to intervene in the market to weaken its currency.