BUDAPEST, May 20 (Reuters) - The forint EURHUF= eased slightly on Friday, underperforming central European currencies, which held steady after a volatile week, with the Hungarian currency pressured by uncertainty over the pace of central bank tightening and a Russian oil embargo.

At 0854 GMT, the forint, the region's worst-performing currency with a 4% loss for the year, was down 0.2% versus the euro, while other Central European currencies were mildly stronger after a choppy week.

The forint has been on a rollercoaster since the National Bank of Hungary flagged a slowdown in the pace of rate hikes as it tries to strike a balance between reining in inflation from more than two decade highs and stifling the economy.

Uncertainty over a proposed European Union embargo on oil imports from Russia, a measure vehemently opposed by Hungary, which gets about two-thirds of its crude oil from Russia, also hung over the Hungarian currency, a trader said.

"I think the market got a bit unsettled by the central bank flagging a slowdown in the pace of rate hikes," the trader said, adding however that moves in the forint lacked clear direction.

"The market is waiting for news about the energy sanctions, whether we can continue to buy oil and gas. That will decide whether the forint will be able to firm."

Economists at Hungarian Bankholding also said the forint's moves reflected its higher relative volatility in the region, while other currencies moved sideways as the dollar steadied.

Regional stock markets also recovered from Thursday's falls when investors were unsettled by global inflation, with Warsaw .WIG20 and Budapest .BUX stocks both gaining over 1%.

CEE

SNAPSHO AT

MARKETS T

1054

CET

CURRENC

IES

Latest Previou Daily

Change

s

bid

close

change in 2022 EURCZK Czech

<EURCZK 24.6690 24.7030 +0.14% +0.82% =

crown

=>

EURHUF Hungary <EURHUF 385.150 384.350 -0.21% -4.09% =

forint

=>

0

0

EURPLN Polish

<EURPLN 4.6340 4.6550 +0.45% -0.93% =

zloty

=>

EURRON Romanian <EURRON 4.9475 4.9479 +0.01% +0.01% =

leu

=>

EURHRK Croatian <EURHRK 7.5380 7.5385 +0.01% -0.27% =

kuna

=>

EURRSD Serbian <EURRSD 117.400 117.500 +0.09% +0.15% =

dinar

=>

0

0

Note:

calculated from

1800

daily

CET

change

Latest Previou Daily

Change

s

close

change in 2022 .PX

Prague

.PX

1357.36 1344.27 +0.97%

N/A

00

.BUX

Budapest .BUX

41945.1 41473.4 +1.14% -17.30%

6

5

.WIG20 Warsaw

<.WIG20 1803.47 1776.40 +1.52% -20.44%

>

.BETI Buchares .BETI 12051.7 11975.7 +0.63% -7.73%

t

8

7

.SBITO Ljubljan <.SBITO 1147.47 1135.92 +1.02% -8.60% P

a

P>

.CRBEX Zagreb

<.CRBEX 2082.26 2073.54 +0.42% +0.14%

>

.BELEX Belgrade <.BELEX 822.07 818.11 +0.48% +0.16% 15

15>

.SOFIX Sofia

<.SOFIX 617.60 613.99 +0.59% -2.84%

>

Yield

Yield

Spread Daily

(bid)

change vs Bund change

in

Czech

spread

Republic

CZ2YT=

2-year <CZ2YT= 5.5650 -0.0810 +518bp -12bps RR

RR>

s CZ5YT=

5-year <CZ5YT= 5.0880 -0.0760 +438bp -11bps RR

RR>

s CZ10YT

<CZ10YT 4.7790 -0.1800 +379bp -23bps =RR

10-year =RR>

s

Poland

PL2YT=

2-year <PL2YT= 6.1710 -0.0700 +579bp -10bps RR

RR>

s PL5YT=

5-year <PL5YT= 6.7680 -0.0090 +606bp

-5bps RR

RR>

s PL10YT

<PL10YT 6.6230 0.0540 +563bp

+0bps =RR

10-year =RR>

s

FORWARD

3x6

6x9

9x12

3M

interba

nk

Czech

<CZKFRA

6.80

6.73

6.44

6.05

Rep

><PRIBO

R=>

Hungary <HUFFRA

7.81

8.29

8.27

6.81

><BUBOR

=>

Poland

<PLNFRA

7.26

7.39

7.34

6.45

><WIBOR

=>

Note:

are for ask

FRA

prices

quotes

********************************************

******************

Reporting by Gergely Szakacs; Editing by Alexander Smith