CEE MARKETS-Forint firms ahead of central bank rate meeting

By Anita Komuves

BUDAPEST, Jan 28 (Reuters) - The Hungarian forint firmed on Tuesday, trading near a two-month high ahead of a meeting of the central bank where policymakers are widely expected to keep the base rate unchanged, while the Polish zloty kept trading at a near a seven-year high.

The forint EURHUF= was 0.18% up versus the euro, trading at 408.05 as it held on to its gains from the end of last week.

"The dollar firmed after Trump's latest tariff comments, but currencies in the region are stable, they got through it fine," an FX trader in Budapest said.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that he would impose the tariffs on aluminium and copper as well as steel.

Uncertainty around Trump's trade and tariff plans has affected CEE currencies as tariffs could hit the region's export-dependent economies.

"But the fact that there were no immediate tariffs of 20%-30% on Europe helped the forint. Approving the rollover of sanctions on Russia also supported it, anything else would have made Hungary the troublemaker of Europe again," the trader said.

On Monday the European Union renewed its wide-ranging sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine, after Hungary stopped holding up the move in return for a declaration on energy security.

Investors also eyed a rate meeting of the National Bank of Hungary later in the day where the bank is widely expected to leave its base rate unchanged at 6.5% amid warnings of an inflation rebound and continued wobbles in the forint.

The bank will announce its rate decision at 1300 GMT, with a statement and press conference to follow at 1400 GMT.

"Global inflation risks have not exactly diminished since Donald Trump took office, and officials will probably want to wait and see how the future head of the central bank wants to direct monetary policy," Commerzbank wrote in a note.

Elsewhere, the Polish zloty EURPLN= added 0.12% and was trading at 4.208 versus the euro, at a nearly seven-year high.

The Czech crown EURCZK= edged down 0.04% to 25.088 per euro, holding on to its gains from last week.

Stocks in the region were mixed, with Prague's index .PX sliding 0.22% while Budapest .BUX added 0.13%. Warsaw .WIG20 gained 0.48%.

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