CEE MARKETS-Stocks rise slightly, Polish bonds ease a shade

* Stocks rise slightly, Moneta Bank rise helps Prague * Serbian assets mixed after PM says will run for presidency * Polish bonds mildly softer after strong output data By Sandor Peto BUDAPEST, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Prague led a cautious rise in Central European equities on Monday, mainly driven by the gains of Moneta Money Bank, while Central European assets were mostly moving sideways.

Prague's main index firmed 0.4 percent by 0929 GMT.

Moneta shares rose 1.2 percent to 85.85 Czech crowns ($3.38), after JP Morgan raised its target price to 100 from 92 crowns.

Earlier this month the stock rose to all-time highs after Moneta reported higher-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings and proposed a high dividend payment to shareholders.

Good earnings from Central European banks, coupled with a rally in international equities markets, helped the region's main stock indexes reach their highest levels since 2015 - or in the case of Budapest, record highs - in the past weeks.

Profit-taking pared those gains on Friday. Regional markets lacked momentum on Monday as U.S. markets remain closed due to the Presidents Day holiday.

The forint and the zloty firmed 0.1 percent against the euro and the leu was flat.

Serbian markets were mixed after Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic agreed late on Friday to run for the presidency in elections tentatively slated for April.

Vucic as president instead of incumbent Tomislav Nikolic could mean a quicker advance towards EU accession and a further improvement of Serbia's ties with NATO, despite its military neutrality.

The dinar firmed slightly and Belgrade shares eased 0.3 percent.

Polish government bond yields were flat or a touch higher.

A surge in industrial output and retail sales in January increases the odds that the Polish central bank could start to lift interest rates before 2018 and that could weigh on bonds.

But a rise in inflation in Poland has been fuelled by one-off factors, therefore the bank is unlikely to bring forward rate tightening, Raiffeisen analyst Stephan Imre said in a note.

Erste analysts raised their inflation forecasts for Hungary and Slovakia, but said in a note that inflation, forecast at an average 1.6 percent in Central Europe for this year, does not threaten inflation targets in the region.

"Therefore, monetary policy should not react quickly, apart from the Czech Republic, where the high inflation will likely prompt the CNB to exit the FX regime in April," they said.

"In Romania and Poland, we see a likely tightening only next year, while in Hungary, as reinforced by recent central banker comments, the easing bias should remain rather strong," they added.