UPDATE 1-Czech money rates, yields up on cbanker's comment

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PRAGUE, April 19 (Reuters) - Czech money market interest rates and short-term debt yields rose on Thursday after hawkish comments by central bank (CNB) Governor Zdenek Tuma raised the chances of a further policy tightening in the coming months.

Tuma said after Wednesday's market close that the next interest rate move was increasingly likely to be a hike, heralding a shift towards a hawkish policy stance just a week before a rate-setting meeting on April 26.

Two-year interest rate swap rates , one of the most sensitive instruments to shifts in market perceptions on monetary policy, gained 6 basis points to 3.15/3.18 percent by 0800 GMT.

Short-dated domestic government debt yields rose by similar amounts and forward-looking rates predicting where short-term money market deposit rates could be at a future date jumped by up to 10 basis points.

Long-term bond yields, anchored by expectations of eventual adoption of the euro as the country's national currency, held largely flat.

"I would not say Tuma will vote for a hike already next week but in my view his comment significantly increased the probability of a move in May or June," said Dalimil Vyskovsky, debt trader at Komercni Banka.

Low inflation and neutral central bank communication in recent weeks had previously led market watchers to predict that CNB policymakers would hold off on a further interest rate hike until at least July [CNB/INT].

Last month, CNB policymakers voted unanimously to leave the benchmark repo rate at 2.50 percent, the lowest level in the European Union, after agreeing that they lacked strong arguments for either a rise or a cut.

But Tuma said latest economic data have been rather pro-inflationary and confirmed that interest rates would need to rise gradually to keep inflation at bay in the booming economy.

The crown held within a familiar range around 28 per euro, trading at 28.005 versus the single currency by 0800 GMT, some 2 percent weaker from lifetime peaks from late 2006.

The firm crown has helped keep inflation below the bottom end of the CNB's target since October last year, making it pause after raising the policy rate by a cumulative 75 basis points between October 2005 and September 2006.

- For news report on Tuma's comments, see [ID:nL18469315].

----------------- MARKET SNAPSHOT AT 0759 GMT ----------------- Crown/euro last deals at 28.005 (-0.09 pct) Crown/dollar at 20.601 bid (-0.07 pct)

5-year yield due Oct 2010 3.51 pct bid (+8 bps) 10-year yield due Jan 2016 3.89 pct bid (flat)

5-yr CZK/EUR mid yield spread -62 bps (vs -72) 10-yr CZK/EUR mid yield spread -23 bps (vs -26)

Current levels versus prior domestic close at 1500 GMT ---------------------------------------------------------------