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By Jason Hovet PRAGUE, Jan 5 (Reuters) - The Czech crown retreated beyond the psychological 24 per euro level on Thursday, pulling back from a 12-year high, while Hungary's forint continued to test four-month peaks as central European currencies stayed positive to start the new year. Stock markets also rose on Thursday, adding to 2%-4% gains posted so far in the first week of 2023. In international bond markets, Hungary issued a total of $4.25 billion worth of dollar-denominated benchmark bonds, Finance Minister Mihaly Varga said on Thursday. In Poland, the zloty waited on central bank Governor Adam Glapinski's news conference after the monetary policy council left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, with expectations of inflation soon slowing. Markets have had a hot start to begin 2023 as easing gas prices and China's emergence from its strict "zero-COVID" rules boost investor sentiment. The crown on Wednesday breached 24 to the euro for the first time since early 2011, but it pulled back on Thursday, with some dealers thinking there is shrinking space for gains with a looming recession. It traded at 24.008, down 0.1% on the day, at 0946 GMT. "Economic factors - current account development, an economy likely in a mild recession, an expected drop in interest rates already this year - should not be acting in this direction for the crown," Erste Group Bank said, adding early-year positioning in the past also led to gains that could not be held. The Hungarian forint traded at 395.25 to the euro, up 0.2% and gaining already 1% in 2023, after falling the most in central Europe in 2022. Poland's zloty fell 0.2% to 4.674 per euro. Polish central bank arguments for stable interest rates were bolstered by preliminary inflation data from December on Thursday showing a headline rate of 16.6%, below a forecast of 17.3%. But analysts said more attention was being paid to U.S. monetary policy after Federal Reserve minutes. "The global market is partially influenced by the description from the last Fed meeting, which reiterated that U.S. central bankers do not expect interest rate cuts in 2023," Bank Millennium said. CEE SNAPSHO AT MARKETS T 1046 CET CURRENC IES Latest Previou Daily Change s bid close change in 2023 EURCZK Czech EURHUF Hungary 0 0 EURPLN Polish EURRON Romanian EURHRK Croatian EURRSD Serbian 0 0 Note: calcula 1800 daily ted CET change from Latest Previou Daily Change s close change in 2023 .PX Prague 1235.79 1230.06 +0.47% +2.83% 00 .BUX Budapest 45168.8 44937.0 +0.52% +3.14% 8 1 .WIG20 Warsaw <.WIG20 1879.95 1855.05 +1.34% +4.91% > .BETI Buchares 12145.4 12065.0 +0.67% +4.13% t 0 4 .SBITO Ljubljan <.SBITO 1061.61 1057.48 +0.39% +1.22% P a P> .BELEX Belgrade <.BELEX 824.61 824.61 +0.00% +0.00% 15 15> .SOFIX Sofia <.SOFIX 603.24 603.42 -0.03% +0.29% > Yield Yield Spread Daily (bid) change vs Bund change in Czech spread Republic CZ2YT= 2-year s CZ5YT= 5-year s CZ10YT s Poland PL2YT= 2-year s PL5YT= 5-year s PL10YT s FORWARD 3x6 6x9 9x12 3M interba nk Czech Hungary Poland Note: are for FRA ask quotes prices *********************************** *************************** (Reporting by Jason Hovet in Prague, Krisztina Than in Budapest, and Pawel Florkiewicz in Warsaw; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)