By Leos Rousek

 
TODAY'S CALENDAR 
 
Local/GMT 
    N/A    Polish insurer PZU 1Q earnings 
  all/day  NATO chief at Globsec security forum 
 0800/0600 Coal miner NWR, Telefonica Czech 1Q 
           earnings 
 1400/1200 Polish April inflation

A security and foreign policy forum in the Slovak capital attended by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's secretary-general will be watched closely Wednesday, amid the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. First-quarter earnings of Czech and Polish companies are also scheduled for release.

Besides Anders Rasmussen, senior government officials from the region, Europe and the U.S. will attend the three-day event in Bratislava, called Globsec, to discuss security issues as tensions between western democracies and Russia continue over Ukraine.

In Prague, coal miner New World Resources PLC (NWR.LN) and Telefonica Czech Republic AS (BAATELEC.PR), the country's leading telecommunications company, will release their first-quarter earnings.

NWR's balance sheet is slated to remain under pressure due to declining coal and coke prices. Analysts expect the company to post a net loss of EUR23.1 million, an improvement on the EUR80.2 million net loss in the year-earlier quarter. However, the results will further exacerbate the company's already tight cash flow and heighten its need for planned capital restructuring, analysts say.

Analysts expect Telefonica Czech to report a 33% drop in its net profit for the three months to end-March to 701 million koruna ($35 million) on declining revenue. However, minority shareholders, holding just over 30% of the company, will focus on any details on the expected mandatory buyout offer for their shares. In January PPF Group NV, an investment company controlled by the Czech Republic's richest man, Petr Kellner, bought a 65.9% stake in Telefonica Czech, valued at about 2.47 billion euros ($3.39 billion), from Spain's Telefonica SA (TEF).

Poland's largest insurer Powszechny Zaklad Ubezpieczen S.A. (PZU.WA), or PZU, is expected to post an 8% year-on-year decline in its net profit to 771 million zlotys ($253 million) in the three months to end-March, driven by rising operating costs.

Also in Warsaw, the country's statistics bureau is due to release the country's April inflation rate. Analysts expect an easing in annual inflation to 0.6% from 0.7% in March, mostly due to lower food and fuel prices. However, after a surprising drop in Hungary's consumer price index, by 0.1%, during the same month, some market participants are bracing themselves for a lower-than-forecast Polish reading.

In Budapest, the country's central bank will released minutes from its monetary policy meeting at which its rate setters cut the main interest rate to a new record-low of 2.5%. The document should show whether there was much resistance among the bank's policy makers to the decision to ease policy. It may also give some hints on when the bank may stop its rate-cutting cycle which began in 2012.

 
FOREX 
 
EUR/CZK 
Latest 0150 GMT 27.412-41 
Previous 2150 GMT 27.415-48 
%Chg -0.02 
 
EUR/HUF 
Latest 0150 GMT 303.54-98 
Previous 2150 GMT 303.56-96 
% Chg  0.00 
 
EUR/PLN 
Latest 0150 GMT 4.1828-64 
Previous 2150 GMT 4.1815-57 
% Chg  +0.02 
 
FIXED INCOME 
 
Hungary 
         Tue    Mon 
3 yrs   3.86%  3.90% 
5 yrs   4.16%  4.19% 
10yrs   5.14%  5.15% 
 
 
Poland 
          Tue    Mon 
3 yrs    2.88%  2.92% 
5 yrs    3.25%  3.32% 
10yrs    3.82%  3.88% 
 
 
Czech Republic 
          Tue    Mon 
3 yrs    0.34%  0.34% 
5 yrs    0.72%  0.73% 
10yrs    1.73%  1.73% 
 
 
STOCKS 
 
WIG 20 
2,413.23+0.52+0.02% 
 
BUX 
18,135.09-101.99-0.56% 
 
PX 
993.98-10.10-1.01% 
 
 
OTHER NEWS

BULGARIA: Bulgarian competition authorities Tuesday charged three foreign-based electricity companies active there with abusing their market position, the latest move in the country's highly-controversial conflict against foreign entities that is raising concerns throughout European Union.

The antimonopoly office lodged fresh allegations that local electricity distribution units of Czech companies CEZ AS and Energo Pro, and Austria's EVN AG, are overcharging third parties for access to the country's low-voltage power grid.

CEZ and EVN refuted the allegation, Energo Pro wasn't immediately available for comment.

POLAND: Russian gas company OAO Gazprom (GAZP.RS) is using European Union states to pressure Ukraine to pay its gas debts with foreign aid and loans, alleges Poland's prime minister.

"We're witnessing a very brutal game on part of Gazprom to pressure Western Europe and Western politicians to approve aid for Ukraine so it could pay Gazprom for gas," Mr. Tusk said during a press conference on Tuesday.

-Patryk Wasilewski in Warsaw and 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.