WARSAW, Dec.9 (Reuters) – Central European currencies were mixed on Thursday, as the focus shifted to tightening Hungarian politics and a press conference with the governor of Poland’s central bank, after a lower rate hike than many investors had hoped for.

The National Bank of Poland (NBP) on Wednesday raised its main policy rate by 50 basis points to 1.75%, a move in line with the expectations of economists polled by Reuters, but which is below what the markets had estimated.

“A small part of the market expected 75 basis points, a more aggressive move, and as this did not happen the zloty weakened,” said Mateusz Sutowicz, financial markets analyst at Bank Millennium. in Warsaw.

The zloty weakened 0.18% against the euro to 4.6243 at 09:20 GMT. Polish Central Bank Governor Adam Glapinski will hold a press conference at 2:00 p.m. GMT, with markets looking for signs of the extent of further tightening.

The Hungarian forint strengthened slightly to 366.00 after the Hungarian central bank raised its one-week deposit rate by 20 basis points to 3.3% in its weekly tender, continuing a series of interest rate hikes as it tries to curb inflation. Read more

“The one-week rate hike was already built into the price and helped the forint before it was announced,” said an FX trader in Budapest.

The forint strengthened from levels close to 369 yesterday afternoon, however, the main driver was the Polish rate hike which was not as high as some had expected. It hurt to the zloty and the forint could benefit. “

The central bank is expected to continue its rate hikes on Tuesday at its rate-setting meeting where a Reuters analyst poll predicts the base rate will be raised an additional 30 basis points to 2.4%. Read more

The Czech Koruna strengthened 0.12% to 25.45, gaining before Friday’s CPI data showed the headline inflation rate, already at its 13-year high, exceeded 6%.

Reporting by Alan Charlish in Warsaw, Anita Komuves in Budapest and Jason Hovet in Prague; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel

Our Standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.