By Alan Charlish

WARSAW, May 20 (Reuters) - The forint firmed in thin

trade on Monday, with local markets closed for holidays, as

investors looked ahead to an interest rate decision in Hungary

on Tuesday and economic data elsewhere in the region later in

the week.

Hungary's central bank is expected to cut its base rate by

another 50 basis points to 7.25% on Tuesday, according to a

Reuters poll, in line with the bank's latest guidance for a

slower pace of easing after steep rate cuts in the past year.

"We have the MPC meeting in Hungary, we expect a 50

basis-point cut and so does the market," said Piotr Poplawski,

senior economist at ING in Warsaw. "Perhaps it should not have

that much of a groundbreaking effect on the market, but we'll

see."

Markets in Hungary were closed for a holiday, but the forint

was 0.30% firmer against the euro at 385.85 in

offshore trade.

Elsewhere markets were calm, with the Polish zloty

0.06% firmer at 4.2585.

"This week we have data but that is later in the week so

today we need to look more at what is happening on global

markets," said a Warsaw-based currency trader, adding that the

market was quiet.

On Wednesday, Poland's statistics office will publish a raft

of data for April including industrial output, which fell much

more than expected in March.

"March figures from Poland were very disappointing, and we

are hoping that the numbers we will see this week for April will

be potentially better, supporting expecations for monetary

easing by the National Bank of Poland."

The Czech crown was stable at 24.7090.

Stock markets in Prague and Budapest were broadly flat, but

Warsaw's blue-chip WIG 20 index was up 0.80%, boosted

by mining stocks KGHM and JSW.

"In terms of KGHM the company is related to the mining of

copper and silver which right now are in a bull market," said

Erste Group analyst Jakub Szkopek.

Szkopek said that JSW was rebounding after falling heavily

in recent months.

CEE SNAPSHOT AT

MARKETS 1216 CET

CURRENCI

ES

Latest Previous Daily Change

bid close change in 2024

EURCZK= Czech EURHUF= Hungary %

EURPLN= Polish %

EURRON= Romania Note: calculated from 1800

daily CET

change

Latest Previous Daily Change

close change in 2024

.PX Prague 1562.09 1561.390 +0.04 +10.47%

0 %

.BUX Budapes 68088.24 68088.24 +0.00 +12.32%

t %

.WIG20 Warsaw %

.BETI Buchare 17507.17 17362.79 +0.83 +13.90%

st %

Spread Daily

vs change

Bund in

Czech spread

Republi

c

CZ2YT=R ps

CZ5YT=R ps

CZ10YT= ps

Poland

PL2YT=R ps

PL5YT=R ps

PL10YT= ps