Central European currencies rose on Thursday, with the Polish zloty leading gains, as investors squared off positions ahead of the Easter weekend, brushing off concerns over a new record number of coronavirus cases in the country.

The zloty had touched a 12-year low at the beginning of the week amid concerns about surging numbers of COVID-19 cases in the country, but has since rebounded and outperformed regional peers.

"This is ahead of holidays -- the zloty was underperforming earlier, now it's outperforming... it seems like the main reason is probably the market was long, squaring positions ahead of the Easter holidays," a Warsaw-based currency trader said.

Grzegorz Ogonek, an economist at Santander Bank Polska, said the zloty had also been supported by a lower-than-expected 2020 general government deficit, which came in at 6.9% of GDP according to statistics office data.

At 0929 GMT, the zloty was 0.17% firmer against the euro at 4.624. The Czech crown was 0.12% firmer at 26.08 and the Hungarian forint was little changed at 362.10.

The forint has strengthened since last week, after the central bank said it was ready to prevent a sustained rise in inflation, traders said.

"The euro-forint rate is near a very important level. It arrived at the 50-day moving average, and if it breaks that, it can continue moving first until the 360-level," brokerage Equilor wrote.

Polish 10-year yields were little changed at 1.572%. On Wednesday, the Polish central bank, which had earlier announced that it would increase the frequency and flexibility of its bond-buying operations, said it could hold more operations in April.

Czech 10-year yields fell almost 7 basis points to 1.88%.