By Shashwat Chauhan

Nov 20 (Reuters) -Most emerging market currencies were stable on Wednesday as worries about escalating geopolitical tensions over the war in Ukraine eased somewhat, while South Africa's rand lost ground after a surprise slowdown in inflation.

The rand ZAR= fell 0.4% against the U.S. dollar after data showed South Africa's headline consumer inflation slowed more than expected in October, to 2.8% year on year from 3.8% in September.

The data comes ahead of the South African Reserve Bank's (SARB) monetary policy announcement on Thursday.

"A softening of headline inflation in October to the lower end of the 3-6% target band should pave way for the SARB to deliver another 25bp (basis point) rate cut to 7.75% tomorrow," Societe Generale analysts said.

In central and eastern Europe, equities gained after being rattled on Tuesday by Ukraine's use of U.S. missiles to strike Russia, with Moscow lowering the threshold for a possible nuclear strike.

Neighbouring Poland's benchmark stock index .WIG20 was up 1% after falling close to 3% on Tuesday, while the Hungarian benchmark .BUX added 1.3% after a roughly 1.6% drop the day before.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is open to discussing a Ukraine ceasefire deal with U.S. president-elect Donald Trump but rules out making any major territorial concessions and insists Kyiv abandon ambitions to join NATO, five sources with knowledge of Kremlin thinking told Reuters.

Central and eastern European currencies remained under pressure, with Hungary's forint EURHUF= leading losses, down 0.6% against the euro.

Traditional safe-haven currencies such as the Japanese yen JPY=EBS and the Swiss Franc CHF=D3 lost ground early on after Tuesday's gains, while the dollar index =USD stabilised, last up 0.4%.

Emerging market assets have been under pressure lately as markets mulled Trump's fiscal, trade and immigration policies, which could be a drag on most developing economies.

Also exerting pressure was a firmer dollar, which remains in favour on expectations the U.S. Federal Reserve will only gradually cut interest rates.

MSCI's gauge for emerging market stocks .MSCIEF was down 0.1% at 0859 GMT, while an index for currencies .MIEM00000CUS was also down 0.1%.

Elsewhere, Indonesia's central bank left interest rates unchanged, as expected, saying changed global dynamics after the U.S. election meant it had to focus on stabilising the rupiah currency. The rupiah IDR= was last down 0.2%.

Iceland's central bank, meanwhile, cut its key policy rate by 50 basis points to 8.50%.

Equity markets in India were closed for a public holiday.

HIGHLIGHTS:

** Polish finance minister sees inflation peaking around end of Q1

** Vietnam raises $175.6 mln in government bond auction

** China leaves lending benchmark LPRs unchanged, as expected

Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru. Editing by Mark Potter

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