By Anita Komuves

BUDAPEST, Aug 9 (Reuters) -Central European currencies strengthened against the euro on Friday, with the Hungarian forint leading the gains due to continued support from higher-than-expected July inflation data that dampened rate cut expectations, analysts said.

The forint EURHUF= was 0.23% stronger versus the euro, building on its gains in the previous session following the release of last month's consumer price data and the posting of a budget surplus that also exceeded market expectations.

"After (CPI) data were published, the forint started to strengthen as rate cut expectations were lowered," brokerage Equilor said in a note.

Hungary's headline inflation rose to an annual 4.1% in July, and core inflation accelerated to 4.7%, Thursday's data showed.

"Still, the market is pricing in at least three cuts or even a little more than that with a chance we could see some movement this month," ING wrote in a note.

"That said, our economists say the inflation numbers do not strongly point to a rate cut in August and see room for only two more reductions this year."

The National Bank of Hungary cut its borrowing costs HUINT.ECI= by 25 basis points (bps) to 6.75% in July.

Elsewhere, the Czech crown EURCZK= added 0.22% and was trading at 25.219 to the euro while the Polish zloty EURPLN= was little moved at 4.3235 versus the common currency.

Most stocks in the region were higher, with Budapest's equities index adding 0.25%.

Hungary's OTP Bank OTPB.BU outperformed the wider market and was up 0.33% by 0901 GMT after the company reported a 268 billion forint ($740 million) consolidated profit after tax for the second quarter, slightly above analyst expectations.

Hungarian energy company MOL MOLB.BU added 0.15% by 0906 GMT after it posted a quarterly net profit of 165 billion forints ($455.6 million) and reiterated its 2024 guidance.

($1 = 362.1600 forints)

Reporting by Anita Komuves;
Editing by Helen Popper

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