CEE MARKETS-Stocks retreat, FX drifts sideways with ECB eyed

PRAGUE, July 16 (Reuters) - Central European stocks mostly gave up gains from the previous session on Thursday while currencies eased a touch, with markets caught between global worries over U.S.-China trade and awaiting cues from an ECB meeting. Warsaw stocks fell half a percent and Budapest was down 0.3%, although a rise in Czech utility CEZ helped buoy Prague. Currencies for the most part traded sideways after gaining some momentum this week. The Polish zloty eased 0.3% and the Czech crown was down a touch at 26.678 to the euro at 0836 GMT after matching its July high of 25.575 on Wednesday. Hungary's forint was flat at 353.91. "The Hungarian currency has been stuck in a more and more narrow range," Equilor said. "Bigger moves could start in the FX market in the afternoon as the European Central Bank has its rate meeting later today." Central European rate setters have eased policy to counter the harsh economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic but are mostly seen taking a pause, especially with inflation remaining elevated. The ECB, after extraordinary moves, is also all but certain to keep policy on hold on Thursday. Risk appetite took a hit due to worries about a wide-ranging dispute between the United States and China over the control of advanced technologies and the protection of civil liberties in Hong Kong. A growing number of coronavirus cases in parts of the world was also giving investors pause. On bond markets, the Czechs were offering Treasury bills following the sale of a rare euro-denominated bond on Wednesday that drew bids of over 1 billion euros for the offer of 300 million. Hungary and Romania will also hold sales. "While Hungary issues its plain-vanilla benchmark bonds, likely attracting healthy demand anew, Romania comes with a 2025 (state bond)," Raiffeisen said. "The latter was well bid at previous auctions and we expect this to repeat today." CEE SNAPSHO AT MARKETS T 1036 CET CURRENC IES Latest Previou Daily Change s bid close change in 2020 EURCZK Czech <EURCZK 26.6780 26.6685 -0.04% -4.67% = crown => EURHUF Hungary <EURHUF 353.910 353.910 +0.00% -6.43% = forint => 0 0 EURPLN Polish <EURPLN 4.4860 4.4743 -0.26% -5.12% = zloty => EURRON Romanian <EURRON 4.8430 4.8445 +0.03% -1.13% = leu => EURHRK Croatian <EURHRK 7.5320 7.5323 +0.00% -1.15% = kuna => EURRSD Serbian <EURRSD 117.580 117.620 +0.03% -0.01% = dinar => 0 0 Note: calculated from 1800 daily CET change STOCKS Latest Previou Daily Change s close change in 2020 .PX Prague 949.63 948.110 +0.16% -14.88% 0 .BUX Budapest 35268.7 35371.8 -0.29% -23.47% 2 8 .WIG20 Warsaw <.WIG20 1786.17 1794.78 -0.48% -16.93% > .BETI Buchares 8475.79 8439.27 +0.43% -15.05% t .SBITO Ljubljan <.SBITO 866.40 870.67 -0.49% -6.42% P a P> .CRBEX Zagreb <.CRBEX 1608.03 1607.57 +0.03% -20.29% > .BELEX Belgrade <.BELEX 658.24 655.53 +0.41% -17.89% 15 15> .SOFIX Sofia <.SOFIX 442.45 442.17 +0.06% -22.12% > BONDS Yield Yield Spread Daily (bid) change vs Bund change in Czech spread Republic CZ2YT= 2-year <CZ2YT= 0.2000 0.0960 +087bp +10bps RR RR> s CZ5YT= 5-year <CZ5YT= 0.4800 0.0270 +113bp +4bps RR RR> s CZ10YT <CZ10YT 0.9360 0.0560 +139bp +6bps =RR 10-year =RR> s Poland PL2YT= 2-year <PL2YT= 0.1220 -0.0120 +079bp -1bps RR RR> s PL5YT= 5-year <PL5YT= 0.7710 -0.0400 +142bp -3bps RR RR> s PL10YT <PL10YT 1.3470 -0.0150 +180bp -1bps =RR 10-year =RR> s FRA 3x6 6x9 9x12 3M interba nk Czech <CZKFRA 0.34 0.35 0.36 0.34 Rep ><PRIBO R=> Hungary <HUFFRA 0.68 0.68 0.67 0.70 ><BUBOR => Poland <PLNFRA 0.20 0.22 0.22 0.25 ><WIBOR => Note: FRA quotes are for ask prices ******************************************** ****************** (Reporting by Jason Hovet in Prague, Anita Komuves in Budapest; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)