Forint Weakens, Hungarian Bonds Drop as Investors Avoid Risk

The forint weakened and government bonds slid as signs the world’s biggest economies are slowing curbed investor appetite for riskier emerging-market assets.

Hungary’s forint depreciated 0.2 percent to 279.30 per euro by 2:37 p.m. in Budapest, making it the second-worst performer among more than 20 emerging currencies tracked by Bloomberg. Benchmark 10-year bonds weakened, lifting the yield one basis point, or 0.01 percentage point, to 7.455 percent.

Emerging-market stocks fell on signs U.S. factories are burdened by the global slowdown and eroding loan quality at Chinese lenders. Manufacturing in the New York area unexpectedly contracted in August for the first time in 10 months, and China’s banking regulator said bad debt increased for a third straight quarter, the longest streak of deterioration in eight years.

To contact the reporter on this story: Andras Gergely in Budapest at agergely@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gavin Serkin at gserkin@bloomberg.net