CEE MARKETS-Prague's shares rise to near 10-year high as banks allowed to pay some dividends

By Anita Komuves BUDAPEST, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Prague's stock index outperformed the region and rose to a near 10-year high on Monday, driven by shares in banks that firmed after Czech National Bank Governor Jiri Rusnok said lenders could pay some dividends. Prague's index gained 0.9%, reaching its highest level since September 2011. Shares in Erste/Ceska Sporitelna rose 1.89% by 0904 GMT while Societe Generale's Komercni Banka gained 2.38%. Elsewhere, Budapest shares firmed 0.24% while Warsaw was up 0.2%. Bucharest's index added 0.45%. Currencies in the region were mixed as PMI data showed that manufacturing activity in central and eastern Europe expanded strongly in July. The Hungarian forint extended its gains from last week that started after the central bank raised its base rate by 30 basis points to 1.2% to fight inflation. Headline inflation accelerated to an annual 5.3% in June from 5.1% in May. Hungary's inflation could slow towards 3% next year if the central bank uses the monetary tools at its disposal, Finance Minister Mihaly Varga said in an interview published on Monday. National Bank of Hungary deputy governor Barnabas Virag reiterated at a conference on Monday that the bank wants to curb inflation and achieve price stability again as fast as possible. "The forint keeps firming as the market seems to believe that there will be more rate hikes, and Varga's and Virag's words today helped reaffirm that," an FX trader in Budapest said. The forint was up 0.31% on the day and trading at 356.70 versus the common currency. Ratings agency Fitch affirmed Hungary's rating at 'BBB' with a stable outlook on Friday. The Polish zloty was 0.1% up and trading at 4.5615 following a jump on Friday after higher-than-expected inflation data raised expectations of tightening in the country where policymakers so far resisted normalising rates. Elsewhere, the Czech crown edged down 0.05% to 25.504 per euro. CEE SNAPSHO AT MARKETS T 1109 CET CURRENC IES Latest Previous Daily Change bid close change in 2021 EURCZK= Czech EURHUF= Hungary 0 EURPLN= Polish EURRON= Romania EURHRK= Croatia EURRSD= Serbian 0 Note: calculated from 1800 daily CET change Latest Previous Daily Change close change in 2021 .PX Prague 1220.29 1209.450 +0.90% +18.80 0 % .BUX Budapes 48726.7 48610.95 +0.24% +15.72 t 0 % .WIG20 Warsaw 2257.86 2253.45 +0.20% +13.80 % .BETI Buchare 11902.1 11848.61 +0.45% +21.38 st 0 % .SBITOP Ljublja <.SBITOP 1169.43 1168.00 +0.12% +29.81 na > % .CRBEX Zagreb 1954.41 1948.31 +0.31% +12.37 % .BELEX1 Belgrad <.BELEX1 776.42 775.66 +0.10% +3.71% 5 e 5> .SOFIX Sofia 571.88 570.44 +0.25% +27.79 % Yield Yield Spread Daily (bid) change vs Bund change in Czech spread Republi c CZ2YT=R s CZ5YT=R s CZ10YT= s Poland PL2YT=R s PL5YT=R s PL10YT= s FORWARD 3x6 6x9 9x12 3M interba nk Czech 1.30 1.70 1.95 0.76 Rep Hungary 1.98 2.17 2.30 1.35 Poland 0.35 0.54 0.70 0.21 Note: are for ask FRA prices quotes ********************************************* ***************** (Additional reporting by Robert Muller in Prague; Editing by Angus MacSwan)