UPDATE 1-CEE MARKETS-Zloty's pain spells forint's gain

(Updates currency prices, rewrites throughout) By Karl Badohal and Boldizsar Gyori WARSAW, Sept 11 (Reuters) - The Hungarian forint inched up on Monday afternoon on better carry trade than regional peers, while the Polish zloty and Czech crown slipped further as fallout from Poland's shock rate cut last Wednesday continued. With Poland's monetary policy council slashing rates three times more than what the market had expected and bets on the Czech central bank to begin easing policy rose as inflation continued to fall, Hungary's interest rates, the highest in the European Union, remained attractive to investors. A Warsaw-based trader said buying forints for zlotys has been popular since last week. "The reason is simple. The zloty is less attractive now, because interest is lower, while interest on the forint is higher." The zloty was down 0.6% at 4.6430 per euro by 1311 GMT, beating last week's low and returning to levels last seen in April. "In our view, the zloty will remain weaker in the coming weeks, supported by the prospect of expansionary monetary and fiscal policies and the news from the election campaign," Santander Bank Polska analysts wrote in a note. Poland has parliamentary elections scheduled for Oct. 15. Last week, the zloty recorded its biggest weekly drop against the euro since Russia's invasion of Ukraine after Polish rate-setters cut the main interest rate by 75 basis points to 6.00% and following comments from central bank governor Adam Glapinski. The Czech crown slumped 0.7% against the euro to 24.5330, its lowest since November 2022. A Prague trader said the Czech currency came under further pressure from stop-losses around the psychological 24.50 level. "There is a group of customers buying euro now," the trader said. Monday's Czech inflation data showed a slight drop in the headline figure as expected, which kept chances of a rate cut this year open. "We still expect the first CNB cut to be delivered in November. This, together with foreign demand cooling, could imply a further depreciation of the crown," Ceska Sporitelna economist Jiri Polansky said. Meanwhile, the Hungarian forint firmed further to 0.4% against the euro, trading at 383.75, gaining 1.4% since Poland's rate cut last Wednesday. "The selling of the zloty for the forint so far gave a backing to the forint, which, if it breaks the 382.5 barrier against the euro, can indicate a momentum to continued strengthening," a Budapest-based trader said. Better risk-taking global sentiment was also driving the Hungarian currency higher, within the 380-390 range, the trader added. CEE SNAPSHOT AT MARKETS 1511 CET CURRENCI ES Latest Previous Daily Change bid close change in 2023 Czech 24.5330 24.3540 -0.73% -1.53% crown Hungary 383.7500 385.4500 +0.44% +4.09% forint Polish 4.6430 4.6135 -0.64% +1.00% zloty Romanian 4.9634 4.9623 -0.02% -0.42% leu Serbian 117.1400 117.1700 +0.03% +0.14% dinar Note: calculated from 1800 CET daily change Latest Previous Daily Change close change in 2023 Prague 1324.88 1321.690 +0.24% +10.25% 0 Budapest 57336.15 56856.01 +0.84% +30.92% Warsaw 1951.52 1943.99 +0.39% +8.90% Bucharest 13982.29 13800.96 +1.31% +19.88% Spread Daily vs Bund change in Czech spread Republic 2-year 5-year 10-year Poland 2-year 5-year 10-year FORWARD 3x6 6x9 9x12 3M interban k Czech Rep < 6.73 5.72 4.76 7.09 PRIBOR=> Hungary < 11.15 9.65 8.50 13.00 BUBOR=> Poland < 4.74 4.06 3.78 6.01 WIBOR=> Note: FRA are for ask prices quotes ************************************************** ************ ($1 = 4.6221 lei) (Reporting by Karol Badohal in Warsaw, Jason Hovet in Prague and Boldizsar Gyori in Budapest; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)