PRAGUE, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Hungary’s forint recovered losses on Wednesday, grinding higher on continued rate hike expectations before a central bank meeting next week, while shares in Czech utility CEZ scaled an 8-1/2 year peak as wholesale electricity prices rose. The rise in CEZ shares, which climbed as much as 3% and hit their highest since January 2013 at 673 crowns, buoyed Prague’s main stock index amid mixed trading in central Europe. Warsaw blue-chip stocks fell 0.7% and Budapest gained 0.6%. Higher wholesale power prices point to growing profits in the coming years for CEZ, and even though carbon allowance prices are also rising fast, the Czech energy giant has a lower carbon intensity in its fleet of plants than many peers. “This is a competitive advantage for CEZ,” Komercni Banka analyst Bohumil Trampota said. On currency markets, the forint was again in the lead, having steadily gained 3.4% since hitting a multi-month low on July 26. It was up 0.3% on the day at 0843 GMT, at 350.6 to the euro and near a test of the psychological 350 level. Elsewhere, the Czech crown dipped 0.1% and the Romanian leu was flat. The zloty gained 0.2% to 4.554 to the euro and Polish yields dropped on shorter-dated debt ahead of a central bank tender to purchase bonds. “We expect the lower volume of purchases to be sustained, given the central bank’s commitment to end the QE program ahead of the first interest rate hike,” Erste Group Bank said. “Given an upward surprise in July inflation, the chance of seeing the first rate hike already in November has increased.” The Polish central bank has so far not rushed to follow the Czech and Hungarian banks, which began raising interest rates in June amid an inflation spike and building economic recovery. The number of analysts saying a Polish rate hike may be possible this year are growing as the economic recovery improves. (Reporting by Jason Hovet in Prague; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise) Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.