BUCHAREST: Central European currencies mostly rose on Tuesday but the zloty marked time before a Polish central bank meeting that may herald an end to a series of interest rate cuts.
By 1425 GMT, the zloty slipped from early highs to bid down less than 0.1 percent at 4.334 to the euro. The Romanian leu rose 0.1 percent to trade at 4.44.
The Hungarian forint was 0.3 percent up at 293.0 and the Czech crown gained a touch to 25.982.
"We have slightly better sentiment in the region because there is now louder talk that the Fed may not end its asset-buying programme so fast," said one Warsaw-based dealer.
The better sentiment helped stock markets, with Warsaw gaining more than 2 percent. Shares in miner New World Resources jumped in Prague on news it might sell some assets to help it raised needed cash.
Meanwhile, Erste Group Bank shares lost 1.7 percent after it raised around 660 million euros ($860 million) to help repay state aid in a two-stage capital increase.
Focus was turned to the start of the two-day meeting of Poland's Monetary Policy Council. Most analysts expect the central bank to reduce borrowing costs by another 25 basis points on Wednesday to an a record low of 2.5 percent.
Markets will also focus on new inflation and growth projections and post-meeting comments on whether the easing cycle that began last November amid a major economic downturn is now at an end.
"While decision on rates is not as uncertain as in previous months, much more uncertainty is related to changes in wording of the MPC and possible shift (to neutral) in its informal policy bias" said Piotr Bujak, Chief Economist at Nordea in Poland.
On Monday, Romania cut rates for the first time in more than a year by 25 basis points to 5 percent and said more easing may be on the cards.
Hungary's central bank cut its base rate to a new low of 4.25 percent last week, indicating recent wobbles in global markets may force it to end its 11-month run of rate cuts, but governor Gyorgy Matolcsy then signalled cuts may not be over.
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