By Karin Strohecker
LONDON, July 16 (Reuters) - Eastern European assets rose on Thursday after Greek lawmakers approved a bailout deal, partially offsetting the impact on investors' psyche of the Federal Reserve confirming it will probably hike U.S. interest rates this year.
Greece's parliament has passed sweeping austerity measures demanded by lenders, clearing the first hurdle towards a new multibillion euro bailout package.
Most markets advanced despite early weakness among Asian currencies and others such as the rouble, lira and the Israeli shekel, which had posted losses against the dollar.
The greenback hit six-week highs after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said the U.S. central bank was likely to hike interest rates later this year if the economy grows as expected.
Poland's zloty rose 0.4 percent and Hungary's forint almost as much, both trading at their highest for more than 6 weeks.
"We are seeing a 'risk on' move after the Greece agreement with the zloty and forint rallying against the euro," Societe Generale strategist, Bernd Berg, said.
"This mini-rally could have some legs and continue another day or two, but once it fades emerging markets face some top-down macro risk events which will drive bearish positioning such as fears over China and the Fed," he said.
Meanwhile the Czech crown slipped 0.2 percent, nudging away from the central bank's intervention level of "around" 27 which it had pushed towards in recent days.
Regional stocks chalked up solid gains, with bourses in Warsaw, Prague and Bucharest all up more than 1 percent and stocks in Budapest not far behind.
Broader emerging market stocks also snapped their two-day losing streak with MSCI's main index up 0.24 percent, supported by Chinese stocks ending higher after the previous day's sharp correction.
For GRAPHIC on emerging market FX performance 2015, see http://link.reuters.com/jus35t
For GRAPHIC on MSCI emerging index performance 2015, see http://link.reuters.com/weh36s
For GRAPHIC on MSCI emerging Europe performance 2015, see http://link.reuters.com/jun28s
For GRAPHIC on MSCI frontier index performance 2015, see http://link.reuters.com/zyh97s
For CENTRAL EUROPE market report, see
For TURKISH market report, see
For RUSSIAN market report, see ) (Additional reporting by Sujata Rao; Editing by Louise Ireland)