PRAGUE, May 18 (Reuters) - Central European currencies strengthened on Wednesday, as interest rate hike views stayed in sight for now, while stock markets continued to rebound. The Czech crown gained 0.2% to 24.678 against the euro, keeping stronger after the central bank stepped into markets last week to intervene to stop a sharp decline as the country's interest rate outlook faces uncertainty. Markets expect a hefty rate hike when the Czech bank meets again in June, sitting under the current board composition for the last time before a new governor, who has called for an end to the sharp policy tightening seen over the past year. Ales Michl, a current central bank board member who has voted against rate hikes, is due to take over in July, and the president still must decide on who will fill his seat and whether to re-appoint two other members, both having backed tightening. Replacing them could sway the balance in the board. Czech central banker Tomas Holub was quoted as saying on Tuesday that it would not make sense to try to tame surging inflation and reject both interest rate hikes and exchange rate interventions at the same time. "On the one hand, the crown can enjoy lower tensions in global markets and the recent central bank interventions, but on the other hand, uncertainty connected with the change of the central bank board remains extreme," CSOB analysts said in a trade note. "The new make-up of the board and the degree of discontinuity will without a doubt be key for the crown in the coming weeks." Central Europe's rate setters have been in sharp policy tightening mode since last year as inflation reaches double-digits or close to it. Hungary's central bank said last week the aggressive period of rate tightening was over, although Deputy Governor Barnabas Virag said on Tuesday that Hungary needed positive real interest rates to wrestle down inflation over the medium term. That has bucked up the forint, which rose 0.6% on Wednesday to lead gains. It was trading at 384.00 to the euro and has wiped out losses seen since last Friday. In Poland, the zloty was steady at 4.649 to the euro, and Romania's leu was hanging at 4.947 per euro. "The potential for the appreciation of the Polish currency seems limited, and its scope will depend on the tendencies on the eurodollar market," Bank Millennium said. Stock markets gained along with global peers, with Budapest up 1.6% to pace the region. Stocks have climbed after hitting multi-week lows last week. CEE SNAPSHO AT MARKETS T 1200 CET CURRENC IES Latest Previou Daily Change s bid close change in 2022 EURCZK Czech EURHUF Hungary 0 0 EURPLN Polish EURRON Romanian EURHRK Croatian EURRSD Serbian 0 0 Note: calculated from 1800 daily CET change Latest Previou Daily Change s close change in 2022 .PX Prague 1322.83 1309.89 +0.99% #VALUE! 00 .BUX Budapest 42577.9 41906.5 +1.60% -16.05% 3 8 .WIG20 Warsaw <.WIG20 1822.86 1800.55 +1.24% -19.59% > .BETI Buchares 12123.1 12054.8 +0.57% -7.18% t 6 1 .SBITO Ljubljan <.SBITO 1136.67 1136.61 +0.01% -9.46% P a P> .CRBEX Zagreb <.CRBEX 2087.50 2085.00 +0.12% +0.39% > .BELEX Belgrade <.BELEX 818.35 818.28 +0.01% -0.30% 15 15> .SOFIX Sofia <.SOFIX 617.08 609.43 +1.26% -2.93% > 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 ask FRA prices quotes ******************************************** ****************** (Reporting by Jason Hovet in Prague and Alan Charlish in Warsaw; Editing by Rashmi Aich)