CEE MARKETS 2-FX weaken as investors wary before US plan

                                
 (Adds details, fixed income)
                                
 PRAGUE, Feb 9 (Reuters) - The Hungarian forint and Polish
zloty slipped on Monday, giving up last week's small gains, to
lead central European currencies lower after a pickup in risk
aversion.
                                
 Stocks traded lower, tracking western peers as investors
showed caution awaiting the approval in the United States of a
massive stimulus plan. [ID:nL9585864]
                                
 Currencies have been hit hard in 2009, falling to new lows
as investors remain wary over risk, and economic outlooks point
to a sharp slowdown this year due to slumping demand from a
recession-hit euro zone.
                                
 Rate setters have loosened monetary policy in response,
which has added to currency losses, while the sharp reversal
from all-time highs seen last summer has left many exporters
overhedged, eliminating some traditional support.
                                
 The forint <EURHUF=> fell 0.6 percent from Friday's close to
290.3 per euro, and the zloty <EURPLN=> lost 0.2 percent to 4.56
to the euro by 0936 GMT on Monday.
                                
 "Sentiment is not really positive this morning," a
Budapest-based currency dealer said. "We have the (central
bank's) EUR/CHF tender later today, and it will be interesting
to see how much the bank allocates."
                                
 The Hungarian and Swiss national banks announced last month
a new euro-Swiss franc swap agreement to Hungary's banks with
funding in francs, popular for mortgages due to lower Swiss
interest rates. [ID:nLS200587]
                                
 In the Czech Republic, data showed inflation decelerated
further in January to 2.2 percent, below the bank's mid-point
target. [ID:nL9192673]
                                
 The Czech central bank cut interest rates to a historic low
of 1.75 percent on Thursday, but signalled rates may be near
bottom, although analysts said there was still room to cut to 1
percent in the first half of the year.
                                
 Romania cut interest rates for the first time in 19 months
last week, but the central bank governor said on Friday monetary
policy will remain tight until fiscal and wage discipline is
enforced. [ID:nL6708438]
                                
 The crown weakened before rebounding 0.2 percent to 27.975
per euro. In Romania, the leu <EURRON=> fell 0.1 percent to 4.24
per euro as investors stuck mostly to the sidelines, dealers
said.
                                
 The zloty has lost almost 30 percent since the end of July,
while the forint is down 19 percent in that time. The crown has
fallen 14.5 percent and the leu 17 percent.
                                
 Investors were bracing for a slew of fresh data this week
from central Europe's fast slowing economies, including
industrial and GDP data in Hungary and the Czech Republic, but
analysts said it was likely only to confirm the slowdown.
                                
 "The surprise potential is rather limited," said Ulrich
Leuchtmann, head of foreign exchange research at Commerzbank in
Frankfurt. "Everybody's knows we are heading for a rather steep
economic slowdown."
                                
 Fixed income markets were quiet on Monday, with yields
little changed.
                                
 
----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT-------------------------
Currency                    Latest   Previous Local    Local
                                
                                  close    currency currency
                                
                                           change   change
                                
                                           today    in 2009 
Czech crown      <EURCZK=>   27.975   28.042  +0.24%    -4.37%
Polish zloty     <EURPLN=>    4.559    4.548  -0.24%    -9.74%
Hungarian forint <EURHUF=>  290.29   288.65   -0.56%    -9.21%
Croatian kuna    <EURHRK=>    7.4      7.406  +0.08%    -0.47%
Romanian leu     <EURRON=>    4.242    4.238  -0.09%    -5.37%
Serbian dinar    <EURRSD=>   92.013   92.14   +0.14%    -2.75%

Yield Spreads
Czech treasury bonds <0#CZBMK=>
2-yr T-bond   CZ2YT=RR    -37 basis points to  150bps over bmk*
4-yr T-bond   CZ4YT=RR   +1 basis points to  +114bps over bmk*
8-yr T-bond   CZ8YT=RR   +1 basis points to  +225bps over bmk*
Hungarian treasury bonds <0#HUBMK=>
3-yr T-bond   HU3YT=RR    -2 basis points to  +970bps over bmk*
5-yr T-bond   HU5YT=RR   +1 basis points to  +928bps over bmk*
10-yr T-bond   HU10YT=RR  -1 basis points to  +728bps over bmk*
*Benchmark is German bond equivalent.
All data taken from Reuters at 1038 CET.
Currency percent change calculated from the daily domestic 
close at 1600 GMT.
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 (Reporting by Reuters bureaus, writing by Jason Hovet; editing
by David Stamp and Toby Chopra)