PRAGUE, Nov 8 (Reuters) - The crown settled near a 21-month high on Monday, after a jump last week when the Czech National Bank delivered its biggest interest rate hike in nearly a quarter of a century, while Hungary's forint eased off its own one-month high. With central European policymakers all turning to interest rate hikes to tackle surging inflation - even as the European central bank looks through the price growth and stands pat on its policy - currencies have started returning to gains. At the same time, however, a stronger U.S. dollar amid tapering from the Federal Reserve is cutting some risk appetite and affecting the region, which is also grappling with a slowing recovery due to global supply disruptions and a rising number of COVID-19 cases that have made investors cautious. The crown, though, has continued to outperform peers and received a boost last week when the central bank lifted its base rate by 125 basis points to 2.75%, a steeper increase than anyone expected. The currency had edged up 0.05% to trade at 25.22 to the euro by 1057 GMT, off a high of 25.185 hit on Friday. In Hungary, the forint lost 0.3% and just about held on to the strong side of the psychological 360 per euro level. Equilor analysts said the 358 level would give some resistance to continued gains. "If that... is broken, the forint can test the 200-day moving average at 356.50," Equilor said. The Polish zloty also held steady along with Romania's leu. The zloty has retreated from highs last week hit after the Polish central bank surprised for a second straight month with a 75-basis-point rate hike. The view was tempered after central bank Governor Adam Glapinski was quoted as saying no more rate hikes would be necessary, although others have shown support for more tightening. Markets will be tuned to a Romanian rate decision on Tuesday, with another hike expected. "We expect the Romanian central bank to raise the key rate by 50bps to 2%, although in light of the recent surprises delivered in Czechia and Poland, we see risks of a bolder 75bps move," Erste Group Bank said. A slew of fresh inflation data is also due this week with expectations of a continued surge in prices. Polish inflation soared to 6.8% in October, preliminary statistics office data showed at the end of the month. CEE SNAPSHO AT MARKETS T 1157 CET CURRENC IES Latest Previou Daily Change s bid close change in 2021 EURCZK Czech EURHUF Hungary 0 0 EURPLN Polish EURRON Romanian EURHRK Croatian EURRSD Serbian 0 0 Note: calculated from 1800 daily CET change STOCKS Latest Previou Daily Change s close change in 2021 .PX Prague 1389.51 1375.84 +0.99% +35.28 00 % .BUX Budapest 54832.2 55099.8 -0.49% +30.22 0 8 % .WIG20 Warsaw <.WIG20 2431.52 2439.16 -0.31% +22.56 > % .BETI Buchares 12896.7 12874.8 +0.17% +31.52 t 0 1 % .SBITO Ljubljan <.SBITO 1205.59 1200.66 +0.41% +33.83 P a P> % .CRBEX Zagreb <.CRBEX 1991.45 1997.42 -0.30% +14.50 > % .BELEX Belgrade <.BELEX 802.63 803.42 -0.10% +7.22% 15 15> .SOFIX Sofia <.SOFIX 601.25 603.84 -0.43% +34.35 > % BONDS Yield Yield Spread Daily (bid) change vs Bund change in Czech spread Republic CZ2YT= 2-year s CZ5YT= 5-year s CZ10YT s Poland PL2YT= 2-year s PL5YT= 5-year s PL10YT s FRA 3x6 6x9 9x12 3M interba nk Czech Hungary Poland Note: FRA quotes are for ask prices ******************************************** ****************** (Reporting by Jason Hovet in Prague and Anita Komuves in Budapest; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)