EMERGING MARKETS-Stocks at six-month lows, forint inches up ahead of rate decision

Concerns over U.S. monetary policy and growing jitters about China's property sector pushed stocks in emerging markets to a six-month low on Tuesday, while investors awaited another likely rate cut by Hungary.

Concerns over U.S. monetary policy and growing jitters about China's property sector pushed stocks in emerging markets to a six-month low on Tuesday, while investors awaited another likely rate cut by Hungary. MSCI's index for emerging market (EM) equities was down 0.9% by 8:43 GMT, falling for a second straight day and hitting its lowest level since March.

China Evergrande Group tumbled for the second day in a row, down 8.1%, after a unit of the embattled property developer missed an onshore bond repayment. Hong Kong's broader property shares index fell 2.2%. Stocks in mainland China slipped 0.6%, while China's yuan held steady against the dollar after the central bank set the official guidance rate at its widest against market estimates.

Both EM stocks and currencies, down 0.2% on Tuesday, have been pressured in recent days by hawkish signals from the Federal Reserve and other major central banks. The two asset classes are on track for losses in the third quarter. Among other EM currencies, the Hungarian forint edged up 0.1% against the euro, coming off a near three-week low.

The National Bank of Hungary is expected to cut its one-day quick deposit rate by a further 100 basis points to 13% at 12:00 GMT, according to a Reuters poll, as inflation decelerates and the economy slows. "(In terms of) what the inflation will do in 2024, we see a lot of upside risks and we are expecting inflation to stay above 5% on average," said Peter Virovacz, senior economist at ING Bank Hungary.

"That's why the National Bank of Hungary needs to remain hawkish and they need to keep the interest rate environment high. We are expecting the forward guidance to be hawkish today." The Turkish lira <TRYTOM=D3 weakened to a record low beyond 27.236 against the dollar, due to inflationary pressure, bringing its year-on-year losses to more than 31%.

S&P said late on Monday it was expecting tight monetary policy in emerging markets to have a more noticeable impact on demand in coming quarters and that they would likely grow below trend for the remainder of 2023 and into 2024. South Africa's rand slipped 0.7%. Data showed the country's composite leading business cycle indicator rose 0.1% month-on-month in July.

For GRAPHIC on emerging market FX performance in 2023, see http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh For GRAPHIC on MSCI emerging index performance in 2023, see https://tmsnrt.rs/2OusNdX For TOP NEWS across emerging markets

For CENTRAL EUROPE market report, see For TURKISH market report, see

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