By Alan Charlish

WARSAW, Sept 6 (Reuters) -Central European currencies hovered around recent levels on Friday as markets awaited U.S. non-farm payrolls that may help shape expectations regarding the scale of a rate cut in September.

The data, which will be published at 1230 GMT, is expected to show the U.S. economy added 160,000 jobs in August, compared with 114,000 the previous month. The unemployment rate is seen falling to 4.2% from 4.3%.

"If payrolls fall below 100k today and unemployment surprisingly creeps higher, then we see a 50bp Fed cut in September becoming the market's base case, which would result in big USD losses," ING analysts said in a note.

A weaker dollar is generally positive for emerging market currencies as it makes riskier assets more attractive.

The Polish zloty EURPLN= firmed 0.09% against the euro to 4.279 as investors digested comments on Thursday from Central Bank Governor Adam Glapinski.

The National Bank of Poland left its main interest rate on hold at 5.75% on Wednesday, meaning the cost of credit has been stable since October 2023.

Glapinski said in a press conference the following day that he hoped the Monetary Policy Council can start discussing interest rate cuts after next March, even if inflation is not expected to return to its target before 2026.

"Yesterday the central bank governor said exactly what the market is expecting to happen with interest rates next year... so I think yesterday's comments were neutral for the zloty," said Marcin Sulewski, CEE Economist at Ipopema Securities.

The Hungarian forint EURHUF= was 0.19% weaker at 394.00, remaining in its range from recent days. Equilor analysts said in a note that the U.S. labour market data could cause bigger moves.

Romania's leu EURRON= was broadly stable at 4.973 after data showed that domestic demand and European Union funded investment drove a modest expansion in the Romanian economy in the second quarter.

The Czech crown EURCZK= was also little changed at 25.035, unmoved by industrial output which fell for a third straight month, highlighting the drag manufacturing is having on economic recovery.

Reporting by Alan Charlish in Warsaw, Jason Hovet in Prague, Anita Komuves in Budapest; Editing by Jan Harvey

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