CEE MARKETS-Zloty flat ahead of central bank rate decision, forint swings

By Boldizsar Gyori BUDAPEST, Oct 4 (Reuters) - The zloty was flat ahead of a Polish central bank meeting on Wednesday where the bank is expected to trim rates further, while the forint was on a rollercoaster with investors still digesting chances of Hungary getting suspended EU funds any time soon. The National Bank of Poland (NBP) will hold a policy meeting later on Wednesday, after it stunned markets with a shock rate cut in September, which sent the zloty tumbling at the time. The zloty, which has partly recovered in the past few weeks, was flat with investors focusing on the rate decision, trading at 4.63 per euro as of 0847 GMT. The majority of economists polled by Reuters expect the NBP to cut interest rates further amid falling inflation and less than two weeks before parliamentary elections. The NBP will ease rates by 25 basis points to 5.75%, according to 17 of the 26 poll respondents. A bigger cut could trigger fresh falls in the zloty, analysts said. "Any reduction in the cost of money stronger than 25 bp, especially in an unfavourable global environment for EM currencies, would increase the pressure for continued PLN depreciation with the possibility of overcoming the nearest technical resistance on EUR/PLN located around 4.64," PKO BP analysts said in a note. The forint began the day drifting lower beyond 392 versus the euro, but regained ground to trade at around 389, showing increased volatility. On Tuesday, the currency was initially boosted by reports that Hungary could finally get billions of euros worth of EU funds unblocked soon. "This morning's weakening is more explicable with Tuesday's mixed news, but I see no particular reason for the quick firming back - the forint is a very volatile currency capable of swings without any news to fuel it," Zoltan Arokszallasi, an analyst at Equilor, said. The Czech crown fell for the fourth straight day to hit its lowest since mid-September, continuing a bumpy ride started last month after Poland's surprise cut knocked it back. It is down more than 1% in the past month, trading 24.5 per euro. The Czech central bank has shown no rush to follow its peers in Hungary and Poland and begin loosening monetary policy as it stays cautious on receding inflation. CEE SNAPSHOT AT MARKETS 1047 CET CURRENCI ES Latest Previous Daily Change bid close change in 2023 EURCZK= Czech EURHUF= Hungary EURPLN= Polish EURRON= Romanian EURRSD= Serbian Note: calculated from 1800 daily CET change Latest Previous Daily Change close change in 2023 .PX Prague 1336.96 1340.230 -0.24% +11.25 0 % .BUX Budapest 55803.04 55959.41 -0.28% +27.42 % .WIG20 Warsaw 1868.45 1864.31 +0.22% +4.27% .BETI Buchares 14183.84 14359.46 -1.22% +21.61 t % Spread Daily vs Bund change in Czech spread Republic CZ2YT=R 2-year s CZ5YT=R 5-year s CZ10YT= s Poland PL2YT=R 2-year s PL5YT=R 5-year s PL10YT= s FORWARD 3x6 6x9 9x12 3M interba nk Czech 6.74 5.85 5.02 7.09 Rep Hungary 10.95 9.60 8.44 12.22 Poland 4.87 4.39 4.22 5.73 Note: are for ask prices FRA quotes *********************************************** *************** (Reporting by Boldizsar Gyori; Editing by Sonia Cheema)