Adds Poland interest rate decision, analyst comment, updates prices

WARSAW, Dec 4 (Reuters) - The zloty edged up on Wednesday as Poland's central bank kept rates on hold as expected, while other Central Eastern European currencies traded steady.

The Polish Monetary Policy Council $(MPC)$ extended its pause, as forecast by all analysts in a Reuters poll, with attention turning to National Bank of Poland (NBP) Governor Adam Glapinski's Thursday press conference for clues on the rates path.

He has flagged earlier that discussions on resuming rate cuts could start after the NBP's next inflation projection in March.

At 1442 GMT the Polish zloty EURPLN= traded 0.18% higher to the euro at 4.2835, nearing its strongest level since early October.

"The MPC will cut interest rates later than other central banks. Consensus sees the first cuts only in Q2 2025, along with a decline in inflation. Economists predict that the CPI will slowly start to return to the inflation target," Polish Economic Institute analysts wrote on X.

In earlier comments, PKO BP analysts pointed to developments since the last rate-setting meeting, including Poland's decision to extend an energy price cap into 2025, as well as weak private consumption data and the zloty's recovery since the Nov. 5 U.S. elections.

"In our opinion, the arguments for a rate cut are growing," they wrote.

The Czech crown EURCZK= was 0.06% lower against the euro at 25.1870, after hitting its strongest level since late September at 25.11 in early trading.

The Czech National Bank $(CNB.AU)$ is very likely to pause interest rate cuts soon, opting for stability and assessing new forecasts with the aim of lowering core inflation in the future to slightly below 2%, Governor Ales Michl said.

The central bank has cut rates at consecutive meetings since December 2023, taking its key rate to 4.00% from a more than two-decade high of 7.00%.

"Czech Governor Michl's comments were actually in line with his previous statements, as Governor Michl belongs to that part of the CNB Board which adopted a cautious approach to further interest rate cuts," Radomir Jac, chief economist at Generali Investments CEE, said.

Czech wage data for the third quarter released on Wednesday "support the case of a pause in the cycle of rate cuts at the CNB's upcoming monetary policy meeting on December 19", he said, adding he expected a resumption of easing in the first quarter of 2025 with a 25 basis point cut in each quarter of next year.

"Today's news - wage statistics and Governor Michl's comments - can be seen as factors, which contributed to further slight CZK gains this morning," Jac said.

In Hungary, the forint EURHUF= inched 0.1% higher against the euro, trading at 414.10, off of its weakest level since December 2022, having fallen last week after credit rating agency Moody's revised the country's outlook to "negative" from "stable".

(Reporting by Karol Badohal in Warsaw, Anita Komuves in Budapest, Jason Hovet in Prague. Editing by Mark Potter and Vijay Kishore)

((karl.badohal@thomsonreuters.com;))

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