CEE MARKETS-Czech inflation keeps crown steady, forint retreats

PRAGUE, April 13 (Reuters) - Central Europe's currencies retreated on Tuesday, with markets taking a breather after recent gains, although the Czech crown held steady and again tested the psychologicial level of 26 per euro after an inflation pick-up. With markets pausing and turning attention to U.S. inflation data for some clues on the dollar's direction, the Hungarian forint retreated from a two-month high, falling 0.4%. Poland's zloty dropped 0.65%, also from a multi-week high. Elsewhere, stock markets mostly gained with Czech utility CEZ hitting its highest since mid-2015 following a rally in Polish utilities on Monday. Markets are betting the Czech central bank will be the first in central Europe to undo some of the massive loosening undertaken a year ago when the COVID-19 pandemic first struck. Markets price in a first rate hike in six months. Analysts said inflation data from March, showing a pick-up to a headline rate of 2.3% backed chances of a hike in the second half of the year. The crown was flat at 26.032 to the euro by 0910 GMT. It has broken the 26 level twice this year. In Hungary, the forint dropped to 358.52, which a trader called a "healthy correction" after steady gains in the past weeks moving it away from near historic lows seen in March. Currencies in central Europe - one of the worst-hit regions in the world by the pandemic in the past few months - are struggling to return to the firming path that analysts forecast them to take as economies start to recover. The pandemic is still weighing on the region and U.S. dollar strength has also sapped some appetite for riskier assets. On stock markets on Tuesday, Prague and Budapest tracked a rise of global stocks. CEZ hit 600 crowns a share for the first time since July 2015, boosted by higher wholesale power prices, expectations of an extraordinary dividend and tracking a jump in Polish peers. Polish utilities soared on Monday on a report of an upcoming curve-out of their coal assets. CEE SNAPSHO AT MARKETS T 1110 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: calcula 1800 daily ted CET change from STOCKS Latest Previou Daily Change s close change in 2021 .PX Prague 1107.43 1096.47 +1.00% +7.82% 00 .BUX Budapest 43478.3 43267.2 +0.49% +3.26% 3 5 .WIG20 Warsaw <.WIG20 1981.37 1982.58 -0.06% -0.13% > .BETI Buchares 11209.5 11224.0 -0.13% +14.32 t 3 8 % .SBITO Ljubljan <.SBITO 1024.82 1018.90 +0.58% +13.76 P a P> % .CRBEX Zagreb <.CRBEX 1882.76 1882.17 +0.03% +8.25% > .BELEX Belgrade <.BELEX 758.97 756.13 +0.38% +1.38% 15 15> .SOFIX Sofia <.SOFIX 507.30 507.86 -0.11% +13.36 > % 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)