By Anita Komuves BUDAPEST, June 18 (Reuters) – The Hungarian forint was stable on Friday after suffering heavy losses this week ahead of a key central bank meeting next Tuesday. A Reuters poll on Wednesday predicted a 25 basis point hike in Hungary’s key rate at Tuesday’s meeting, which would make the country the first in the European Union to tighten monetary policy after the coronavirus pandemic. The forint was trading at 355 per euro at the end of a week when it fell nearly 2%, underperforming its regional peers. Most central European currencies have fallen in the previous two sessions, with a hawkish message from the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday dampening risk appetite. The forint was also hit this week by comments from a central banker on Monday that the bank could raise quarterly rates, which would be slower than current market expectations, a trader in Budapest said. “If the rate hike next week is lower than the markets are forecasting, it could weaken the forint further,” he said. The Czech central bank will hold its political meeting next Wednesday. Expectations of policy tightening boosted the forint and the Czech koruna to lead gains in Central Europe in the first half of 2021, though they both gave up some of those gains after the Fed said it might tighten policy sooner than expected. The krone edged up 0.06% to 25.519 against the common currency on Friday. The Polish zloty was little changed. “The zloty has emerged relatively unscathed from the turmoil of the past few days,” as it is supported by a strong economy, wrote ING. “However, the potential for strengthening will be limited by the policy of the NBP (National Bank of Poland), which will most likely decide to hike rates no earlier than November.” Shares in the region were mixed, with Prague and Budapest down 0.49%. Warsaw gained 0.28% and Bucharest was up 0.33%. SNAPSHOT OF EEC MARKETS 1125 CET CURRENCI ES Last previous daily change Change in bid closing in 2021 EURCZK = Czech%% EURHUF = Hungary%% EURPLN = Polish%% EURRON = Romanian EURHRK = Croatian% EURRSD = Serbian% % Note: calculated from 1800 per day Change CET Last previous Daily change near change in 2021 .PX Prague 1167.18 1173.950 -0.58% +13.6 0 3% .BUX Budapest 48482.49 48795.68 -0.64% +15.1 4% .WIG20 Warsaw 2,212.77 2,211.58 +0.05 + 11.5% 3% .BETI Buchares 11,687.90 11,657.26 +0.26 +19.2 t% 0% .SBITOP Ljubljan <.sbitop a> % 2% .CRBEX Zagreb 1995.16 1996.43 -0.06% +14.7 1% .BELEX1 Belgrade <.belex1> %% .SOFIX Sofia 550.33 550.74 -0.07% +22.9 7% Yield Yield Spread Daily variation (bid) vs Bund variation in the Czech Republic spread CZ2YT = R 2 years ps CZ5YT = R 5 years ps CZ10YT = ps Poland PL2YT = R 2 years ps PL5YT = R 5 years ps PL10YT = ps FORWARD 3×6 6×9 9×12 3M Czech interbank 0.78 1.05 1.36 0.44 Hungary Rep 1.42 1.69 1.86 0, 93 Poland 0.33 0.50 0.70 0.21 Note: are for the requested prices The quotes FRA *************************** **************** ****** ****************** (Additional reporting by Alan Charlish in Warsaw and Jason Hovet in Prague Editing by Gareth Jones)