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~~~~~((#))016002000g-Government & Corporate Bonds

~~~~~((#))003002000g-Currency Markets (World)

Croatian kuna firms, bond trade meagre

ZAGREB: The Croatian kuna firmed further against the euro on Monday while ten leading banks hiked rates in their direct deals with the benchmark overnight rate up four basis points to 2.18 percent.

On the open interbank market, the kuna inched further up to 7.65/7.67 from 7.66/7.68 in the morning, while the local bond market again ground to a virtual halt by early afternoon.

The central bank's own kuna mid-rates, which reflect market moves with a two-day delay, firmed marginally to 7.6918 from 7.6923 against the euro and to 7.0697 from 7.1650 against the dollar.

Analysts expect the national currency to experience mild appreciation pressures after the central bank intervened last Wednesday for the sixth time this year to stop its steady slide.

The local bond market saw only 30,000 euros ($32,690) in turnover thanks to trade in finance ministry's short-term paper RHMF-04 at the unchanged price of 103.30.-Reuters