By Leos Rousek

 
TODAY'S CALENDAR 
Local/GMT 
 0830/0630 Hungary central bank report on household borrowing 
 0900/0700 Czech July PPI 
 0900/0700 OTP Bank holds press briefing on 2Q results 
 1130/0930 Hungary 12-mo T-bill auction

Household debt levels in Hungary and second-quarter earnings of OTP Bank Nyrt (OTP.BU), the country's largest lender in asset terms, will be in focus Thursday.

Hungary's central bank report total borrowings shouldered by local households may help shed some light on a tentative government plan to assists holders of mortgages denominated in foreign currencies. In the past mortgages and consumer loans, issued in Swiss francs, were popular among Hungarians because they carried lower interest rates than similar loans taken in the local currency. With the forint's weakening in the wake of the financial crisis repayment costs of foreign loans increased steeply, denting disposable incomes of many a Hungarian family.

The second-quarter net profit of OTP Bank Nyrt. (OTP.BU), Hungary's largest bank by assets and market share, surpassed Thursday even the most optimistic analyst expectations as sharply higher net fees and commissions boosted its operating profit while the effective tax rate fell deeply. Consolidated unadjusted net profit was 40.58 billion forints ($180.8 million) in the second quarter, down 1% from a net profit of HUF41.07 billion a year earlier, but sharply higher than the HUF30.38 billion consensus forecast in a poll of 18 analysts provided by the company.

At its earnings conference call OTP officials will likely face questions on the bank's operations in Russia, including its lending activities and non-performing loan levels there.

In Prague, the July's producer price index data will likely confirm benign inflationary pressures with analysts expecting PPI rising 1.1% on the year, compared with a 0.7% annual growth in June.

 
EUR/CZK 
Latest 0150 GMT 25.723-99 
Previous 2150 GMT 25.739-88 
%Chg -0.01 
 
EUR/HUF 
Latest 0150 GMT 298.85-9.28 
Previous 2150 GMT 298.75-9.33 
% Chg +0.01 
EUR/PLN 
Latest 0150 GMT 4.2030-92 
Previous 2150 GMT 4.2025-102 
% Chg -0.01 
 
FIXED INCOME 
 
Hungary 
         Wed   Tue 
3 yrs   4.82%  4.80% 
5 yrs   5.36%  5.30% 
10yrs   6.22%  6.18% 
 
Poland 
         Wed   Tue 
3 yrs   3.13%  2.97%(1) 
5 yrs   3.67%  3.58% 
10yrs   4.27%  4.22% 
(1) 2 yrs 
 
Czech Republic 
         Wed   Tue 
3 yrs   0.40%  0.40% 
5 yrs   1.35%  1.36% 
10yrs   2.44%  2.44%(1) 
(1) 11 yrs 
 
 
STOCKS 
 
WIG 20 
2,461.22+18.92+0.77% 
 
BUX 
18,632.31-23.02-0.12% 
 
PX 
982.55-0.49-0.05% 
OTHER NEWS

POLAND: Poland's annual inflation rate accelerated to 1.1% in July from 0.2% in June led by rising food prices, stats office GUS said Wednesday.

In July prices rose 0.3% from the previous month. A month earlier they were unchanged in monthly terms.

CZECH REPUBLIC: The Czech economy expanded faster than expected on quarterly terms in the three months to end-June and its annual contraction was slower than forecast, confirming expectations that the country is starting to emerge from its longest recession since the early 1990s, preliminary data released by the Czech Statistics Office showed Wednesday.

ROMANIA: -Global private equity company Advent International said on Wednesday it has sold its holding in Romanian decorative paints producer Deutek to Emerging Europe Accession Fund for an undisclosed amount, news agency Mediafax reported.

-Veronika Gulyas in Budapest contributed to this article.

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.