Negotiations in Ukraine make progress, assets in emerging markets in Europe rise in response.

On Tuesday, Central European and Eastern European assets led the emerging markets, following a meeting in Washington, D.C. between US President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and European leaders, showing signs of progress in peace negotiations. The Hungarian forint saw the largest gains among emerging market currencies, with the Euro exchange rate reaching its highest level in 11 months, and the Polish zloty also rising slightly. Overall, the MSCI Emerging Markets Currency Index saw little change in returns, and corresponding indexes for stock markets in developing countries remained stable. Piotr Matys, currency analyst at In Touch Capital Markets Ltd., stated, "Central and Eastern European currencies are the main beneficiaries of the escalating market optimism, which stems from the historic meeting between European leaders and Trump at the White House yesterday. People believe that this meeting will lead to Zelensky and Russian President Putin sitting at the negotiating table." The Washington meeting is seen as a successful step towards a summit between Putin and Zelensky, although a meeting date has not yet been confirmed, and the Russian leader has not committed to attending. Despite facing numerous obstacles to reaching a peace agreement, data compiled by Bloomberg shows that Ukrainian US dollar bonds are leading in the emerging markets. Ukrainian 2036 zero-coupon US dollar bonds have risen for the fifth consecutive day, reaching their highest level since the end of March. Ukrainian bond prices continued to rise after the Washington meeting. Additionally, shares of London-listed Ukrainian high-grade iron ore exporter Ferrexpo rose by over 10%, and shares of Polish recruitment company Grupa Pracuj in Warsaw rose by over 3%.