By Anita Komuves

BUDAPEST, Aug 15 (Reuters) -Central European currencies trod water on Thursday in low-volume summer trade as market participants digested U.S. inflation data and looked ahead to U.S. retail sales numbers due later in the day.

Markets in Poland and Romania were closed for a public holiday.

The Hungarian forint EURHUF= eased 0.06% to 394.65 per euro, and two FX traders based in Budapest expected it to trade in a range between 393 and 396 versus the common currency during the rest of the day.

"The market could react to fresh data from the U.S. in the afternoon, but there will not be any major movements until then," one trader said.

"The forint is trading in its recent range and we expect a relatively calm day."

The Czech crown EURCZK= was 0.17% lower at 25.180 per euro, but mostly held onto its gains from the previous session when it was supported by dollar weakness.

Mild U.S. inflation readings this week have cemented hopes that the Federal Reserve will lower borrowing costs in September for the first time in 4-1/2 years.

"The Czech crown is gradually strengthening and the environment of a globally weak dollar has been playing to its favor," CSOB Bank wrote in a note.

"We assume that the crown in the next sessions will primarily reflect events on global markets - it will stay on the wave of slight optimism," they said.

Budapest's stock index .BUX weakened, down 0.44% on the day, while Prague's equities .PX firmed, adding 0.57%.

Additional reporting by Jan Lopatka in Prague; Editing by Jan Harvey

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