CEE MARKETS-FX mixed as investors await Hungary central bank meeting, Polish vote

BUDAPEST, May 26 (Reuters) - Central European currencies were mixed on Monday, mostly shrugging off U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to postpone threatened 50% tariffs on imports from the European Union.

The euro rallied against the dollar and European shares surged after a restored July 9 deadline to allow for talks between Washington and the 27-nation bloc to produce a deal.

Hungary's forint EURHUF= was a touch weaker, down 0.14% on the day versus the euro and trading at 403.95 per euro.

"The Trump announcement moved the euro-dollar rate, but it was not news for the forint. I guess the market now reacts to Trump's news when something is signed, because announcements are easy to withdraw," an FX trader in Budapest said.

Investors also eyed a rate-setting meeting of the National Bank of Hungary scheduled for Tuesday.

A Reuters poll showed analysts expect the base rate to be held at 6.5% for the eighth time as the central bank tries to cut inflation amid a weaker than anticipated economic recovery.

Central Bank Governor Mihaly Varga said on Thursday that inflation expectations must be anchored in order for the bank to reach its inflation target in a sustainable manner, adding the fight against inflation is "not yet over".

Elsewhere, the Polish zloty EURPLN= firmed 0.14% to trade at 4.2515 versus the euro as data showed that retail sales were up 7.6% year-on-year in April, above forecast.

"Trump's announcement to postpone the entry into force of additional tariffs on EU imports until July 9 may also improve market sentiment," Bank Millennium analysts wrote in a note.

"On the other hand, the technical situation for the EURPLN exchange rate suggests that we may soon see a correction towards 4.26, which may be supported by uncertainty related to the second round of the (Polish) presidential elections," they said.

Poland holds the runoff vote on Sunday. Both the zloty and Polish stocks suffered some losses last week after a tighter than expected first-round win for liberal frontrunner Rafal Trzaskowski over nationalist Karol Nawrocki.

The Czech crown EURCZK= was unmoved. The Romanian leu EURRON= eased 0.12% versus the euro and was trading at 5.0599, staying on the weaker side of 5.00.

Warsaw's stocks .WIG20 led gains the region as they added 1.8%. Budapest .BUX was 0.7% higher, while Bucharest's .BETI stocks were up 1.2%. Prague .PX bucked the trend, dipping 0.2%.

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