Forint Gains as Chinese Exports Boost Global Recovery Bets

Budapest - The Hungarian forint advanced against the euro as a report showing an easing in Chinese export declines added to evidence that global economy is recovering and bolstered demand for higher-yielding emerging market assets. The forint strengthened 0.4 percent to 267.97 per euro as of 9:25 a.m. in Budapest, almost erasing yesterday’s decline. The currency is near this year’s strongest closing level of 265 per euro. China’s exports dropped 15.2 percent to $115.9 billion from a year earlier in September, the slowest pace of declines in nine months, the customs bureau said on its Web site today. Shipments to the U.S. and European Union rose to the highest value since November. “Sentiment is more buoyant for emerging-market currencies thanks to encouraging trade data from China,” Nigel Rendell, an emerging- markets strategist at RBC Capital Markets in London, said in a phone interview. “That should keep higher-yielding currencies on a stronger keel today.”