CEE MARKETS-Warsaw, Prague stocks lead losses; FX ease as Trump starts tariffs

By Anita Komuves

BUDAPEST, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Polish and Czech stocks fell at their fastest since late last year while a firming dollar pushed central Europe's currencies lower on Monday, as markets took in new U.S. tariffs against the country's three biggest trade partners and the looming impact on European economies.

Most CEE stock indexes were lower, with Warsaw .WIG20 leading losses as it shed 1.8% and fell at its fastest pace since mid-December.

Prague .PX lost 0.8%, on course for its biggest daily drop since November, and Budapest .BUX was 0.8% weaker.

"Weak global sentiment, Trump imposes tariffs on his neighbors and this causes the sentiment on stock markets to be weak," said Lukasz Janczak, an analyst at Erste Group.

The Hungarian forint EURHUF= led losses among currencies as it weakened 0.4% to trade at 409.3 per euro, giving up gains from the previous week when it hit a more than two-month high at 406.05.

The Czech crown EURCZK= was 0.32% lower, trading at 25.26 to the euro.

"No tariffs on the European Union were announced, although those that were announced do not foreshadow anything good for our continent, either," an FX trader in Budapest said.

"But there is no drama in our market... Compared to how much the dollar firmed, the region is holding up okay."

On Monday U.S. President Donald Trump put tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico and China.

In the past Trump has vowed to impose tariffs on European goods too, though White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Friday the president had not made up his mind about a timeline for implementing those tariffs.

In Poland, central Europe's biggest economy, the zloty EURPLN= eased 0.3% to trade at 4.228 per euro, giving up some gains after firming to a near seven-year high beyond 4.20 last week.

"The global flight from risk is not favorable to Polish assets, especially the domestic currency, which is undergoing a correction after a very strong strengthening in recent months," Bank Pekao wrote in a note.

Markets were also looking ahead to a meeting of the monetary policy council of the National Bank of Poland scheduled for Wednesday where analysts expect rates to stay unchanged.

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