CEE MARKETS-Currencies ease ahead of Washington talks on Ukraine

WARSAW, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Central and Eastern European currencies eased on Monday as European and Ukrainian leaders headed to Washington for talks on Russia's war in Ukraine following Friday's meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin.

The dollar gained against the euro ahead of the meeting, while focus also turned to the Federal Reserve's Jackson Hole symposium for policy cues.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and European leaders will meet Trump in Washington to try to map out a peace deal amid fears the U.S. president could try to pressure Kyiv into accepting a settlement favourable to Moscow.

"Of course, it will be important for CEE currencies to hear about developments in Washington today. Overall, however, we are inclined to believe that the CEE may be at risk of handing back some of the gains from previous days today, especially the Hungarian forint," ING analysts wrote in a note.

"Nevertheless, it is clear that the playing field is very uncertain in the CEE region, and the market will be reluctant to take risks, in our opinion," they added.

By 0906 GMT, the Hungarian forint EURHUF= had eased 0.2% against the euro to 395.70, giving back some gains after it touched an 11-month high of 394.50 on Friday.

In Poland, the zloty EURPLN= was down 0.1% at 4.2590 against the euro, within the range it has been trading in since early April.

"Friday's meeting of the U.S. and Russian presidents in Alaska was not seen as a signal bringing us closer to peace in Ukraine, but rather as a geopolitical risk... Therefore, the markets see no benefit in it," DM BOS brokerage analysts wrote in a note.

"Two things may be crucial for the future prospects of the zloty - EURUSD and the condition of global stock exchanges," they added.

Poland's central bank is scheduled to release core inflation data this afternoon. A consumer price inflation reading for July published last week confirmed that price growth in Poland slowed less than expected, but came within the central bank's target range.

The Romanian leu EURRON= was flat at 5.0597 per euro.

On Friday, Fitch maintained Romania's investment-grade credit status, keeping its "BBB-" rating after the new government pushed through steps to ease its budget deficit, but the outlook remained "negative" due to persistent financial pressures.

Elsewhere, the Czech crown EURCZK= was also steady at 24.4550 per euro.

Czech data on Monday showed producer prices easing 1.2% on the year, broadly in line with expectations.

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