CEE MARKETS-Forint stable ahead of key cenbank meeting

By Anita Komuves BUDAPEST, June 22 (Reuters) - The Hungarian forint held steady ahead of a watershed central bank meeting later on Tuesday where policymakers are expected to raise the base rate, becoming the first to tighten policy in the European Union as the economy recovers from the pandemic. "A 30-basis point hike to 0.9% and raising the one-week deposit rate to the same level will move the forint moderately as it has already been priced in. A bigger hike, for example, to 1%, could bring bigger moves," a trader in Budapest said. "Clear communication about the frequency of the planned rate hikes could help calm markets." The uncertainty about the size of the first rate hike in nearly a decade has concerned investors and caused wide swings in the forint's exchange rate since a central banker first flagged the rate hike on May 17, analysts and traders have said. The forint was unmoved on the day, trading at 354 per euro. A Reuters poll of analysts forecasts a 25-basis point hike of the base rate, however, forecasts range from 15 to 30 basis points. The overwhelming majority of analysts also expects the NBH to raise its one-week deposit rate by 15 basis points to 0.9% from 0.75% by the end of this month, which would bring it broadly in line with the prevailing base rate. The one-week deposit facility is currently the main policy tool used by the National Bank of Hungary. The Czech National Bank is also expected to raise its base rate at its Wednesday meeting. A Reuters poll forecasts a 25 basis points hike. The Czech crown slid 0.13% to trade at 25.550 per euro. Elsewhere, the Polish zloty weakened 0.21% to 4.5375 per euro, while the Romanian leu edged down 0.06% to 4.9257. Stocks in the region were mixed, with Budapest up 0.3% while Warsaw slid 0.25%. Prague was 0.06% lower, while Bucharest eased 0.14%. CEE SNAPSHOT AT MARKETS 1023 CET CURRENCI ES Latest Previou Daily Change s bid close change in 2021 EURCZK= Czech 25.5500 25.5160 -0.13% +2.66% crown EURHUF= Hungary 354.0000 354.000 +0.00% +2.46% forint 0 EURPLN= Polish 4.5375 4.5280 -0.21% +0.48% zloty EURRON= Romania 4.9257 4.9226 -0.06% -1.23% n leu EURHRK= Croatia 7.4968 7.4990 +0.03% +0.68% n kuna EURRSD= Serbian 117.4600 117.575 +0.10% +0.09% dinar 0 Note: calculated from 1800 daily CET change Latest Previou Daily Change s close change in 2021 .PX Prague 1165.27 1165.95 -0.06% +13.45% 00 .BUX Budapes 48525.44 48379.6 +0.30% +15.24% t 2 .WIG20 Warsaw 2213.94 2219.45 -0.25% +11.59% .BETI Buchare 11592.07 11608.1 -0.14% +18.22% st 8 .SBITOP Ljublja 1137.95 1138.83 -0.08% +26.32% na .CRBEX Zagreb 1981.15 1981.15 +0.00% +13.91% .BELEX1 Belgrad <.BELEX15 774.48 775.57 -0.14% +3.46% 5 e > .SOFIX Sofia 555.50 557.84 -0.42% +24.13% Yield Yield Spread Daily (bid) change vs change Bund in Czech Republic spread CZ2YT=R 2-year s CZ5YT=R 5-year s CZ10YT= 10-year s Poland PL2YT=R 2-year s PL5YT=R 5-year s PL10YT= 10-year s FORWARD 3x6 6x9 9x12 3M interba nk Czech < 0.83 1.10 1.42 0.44 Rep PRIBOR=> Hungary < 1.51 1.78 1.96 0.94 BUBOR=> Poland < 0.36 0.57 0.78 0.21 WIBOR=> Note: are for ask prices FRA quotes ********************************************* ***************** (Reporting by Anita Komuves; editing by Uttaresh.V)