Czech central bank stayed out of FX markets in November

PRAGUE (Reuters) - The Czech National Bank stayed out of currency markets in November, the first month it did not sell foreign currency since it began interventions to prevent a weak crown in May 2022, central bank data showed on Monday.

The crown has climbed to 12-year highs, on the strong side of 24 crowns per euro, to begin 2023 as market sentiment improves amid easing gas prices.

Crown strength has helped Czech policymakers' fight against high inflation and cut the need to intervene.

The bank already slowed its interventions in October last year, when it sold 79 million euros, down from 2.57 billion euros in September.

In July, it sold nearly 10 billion euros from its large foreign reserves, the highest monthly total in 2022.

The bank's foreign reserves rose slightly from the previous month to 132.25 billion euros in December, according to the data released on Monday. In April 2022, before interventions started regularly, reserves were at 160.43 billion euros.

(Reporting by Jason Hovet)