CEE MARKETS-Stocks firm on strong European cues ahead of Fed comments

By Anita Komuves BUDAPEST, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Central European stocks tracked continental markets higher on Wednesday, while currencies in the region were mixed, as investors awaited the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy statement on policy tightening later in the day. Shares in Bucharest led gains, adding 2.34%, while Warsaw was 1.69% higher. Budapest was up 1.97%, while Prague rose 1.24%. The Hungarian forint fell 0.09% to 359.31 per euro, giving up some of its gains from the previous session when it was boosted by a bigger-than-expected central bank rate hike. "The Fed will steal the show today, everyone is holding their breath," a Budapest-based FX trader said. "But in the long term, bringing the Hungarian base rate closer to the one-week deposit rate will be appreciated by foreign investors as they see it as a long-term commitment to fighting inflation." The National Bank of Hungary raised its base rate by 50 basis points to 2.9% on Tuesday. Over the next six months, the base rate will be aligned with the one-week deposit rate, Deputy Central Bank Governor Barnabas Virag said. The one-week rate, currently at 4%, is used to tackle short-term market volatility. It is set every Thursday. Long-term government bond yields in Hungary were little moved on Wednesday, two fixed-income traders in Budapest said. The 10-year yield was around 4.73%, a few basis points lower than before the rate hike. The Czech crown gained 0.36% and was trading at 24.491 per euro on Wednesday. It outperformed its regional peers as it remained supported by the latest central bank comments hinting at yet another strong hike in the next meeting. Czech central bank board member Vojtech Benda told Reuters on Tuesday the main rate, currently at 3.75%, may rise by more than 50 basis points. But he said, like others, the rate was unlikely to surpass 5% this year. Vice-Governor Tomas Nidetzky also said in a Bloomberg interview published on Tuesday that the bank would probably lift the main rate above 4% when it meets on Feb. 3. The Polish zloty edged down 0.08% to 4.5965 versus the common currency. "The zloty remains weak. Although the dynamics of the weakening is losing momentum every day ... the attack on the PLN 4.60/EUR barrier is still highly probable," Millennium Bank wrote in a note. CEE SNAPSHO AT MARKETS T 1043 CET CURRENC IES Latest Previou Daily Change s bid close change in 2022 EURCZK Czech EURHUF Hungary 0 0 EURPLN Polish EURRON Romania EURHRK Croatia EURRSD Serbian 0 0 Note: calculated from 1800 daily CET change Latest Previou Daily Change s close change in 2022 .PX Prague 1419.60 1402.20 +1.24% N/A 00 .BUX Budapes 52141.8 51134.6 +1.97% +2.80% t 4 3 .WIG20 Warsaw <.WIG20 2236.69 2199.60 +1.69% -1.33% > .BETI Buchare 13030.6 12732.6 +2.34% -0.23% st 3 1 .SBITO Ljublja <.SBITO 1278.87 1269.35 +0.75% +1.86% P na P> .CRBEX Zagreb <.CRBEX 2132.85 2122.86 +0.47% +2.57% > .BELEX Belgrad <.BELEX 856.63 859.33 -0.31% +4.37% 15 e 15> .SOFIX Sofia <.SOFIX 610.58 613.72 -0.51% -3.95% > Yield Yield Spread Daily (bid) change vs Bund change in Czech spread Republi c CZ2YT= s CZ5YT= s CZ10YT s Poland PL2YT= s PL5YT= s PL10YT s FORWARD 3x6 6x9 9x12 3M interba nk Czech Hungary Poland Note: are for ask FRA prices quotes ******************************************* ******************* (Additional reporting by Pawel Florkiewicz in Warsaw and Jason Hovet in Prague; Editing by Ramakrishnan M.)