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Stocks roll to two-week low as pullback intensifies



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Updated at 1000 GMT

Global cyber outage grounds flights, hits banks, telecoms, media

Neutral rate to not determine policy in India, says c.bank chief

Ukraine govt proposes first wartime tax hikes to fund defence

Nigeria central bank sells forex to support currency

Stocks off 1.6%, FX slip 0.3%

By Johann M Cherian

July 19 (Reuters) -In a grim end to the week, an index tracking bourses in emerging markets pulled back to a two-week low on Friday, while investors grappled with a global tech outage, uncertainty around U.S. elections and a limping Chinese economy.

MSCI's index tracking emerging markets equities .MSCIEF eased 1.6% to a two-week low on Friday, after hitting a two-year high.

The index was on track for its sixth straight session in losses and was set for a weekly drop of over 3%, its biggest weekly loss in nearly two months.

Most of the losses were driven by a sell-off in tech-heavy indexes in Hong Kong .HSTECH, Taiwan .TWII and Korea .KS11. A cloudy outlook about the upcoming U.S. elections and the lack of enthusiasm around China's policy pledges at the end of the 'Third Plenum' also stoked risk aversion.

"There's a bit of a pullback because it has been a long run so far this year and there is some uncertainty about U.S. elections which depends on if Donald Trump will come back as president again and his policies could lead to some resistance," said Ruchir Desai, fund manager at Asia Frontier Capital.

Desai said if tariffs against China were to increase under a second Trump presidency some Asian economies, including Vietnam, Bangladesh Cambodia and Sri Lanka, could be net beneficiaries.

Meanwhile, the pullback extended to south Asia, where India's main indexes .NSEI, .BSEI dropped 1% and 0.9%, respectively, as focus was on an upcoming federal budget, with economic analysts anticipating steps to boost jobs and incomes.

Separately, the local central bank's governor said real and neutral rates cannot be determinants of monetary policy, a day after the regulator pegged a higher natural interest rate.

South Africa's rand ZAR= weakened 0.4% and the main stock index .JTOPI dropped 0.8%. Late on Thursday, President Cyril Ramaphosa pledged to revive the flagging economy by resuscitating factories and farms, building roads and seizing the opportunities presented by green energy.

A global tech outage disrupted operations in multiple industries, with airlines halting flights, some broadcasters going off the air and everything from banking to healthcare taking a hit.

An index tracking eastern and central European equities .MIME00000PUS lost 1.3%, while Turkish .XU100 and Israeli .TA125 stocks shed 0.1% and 0.8% respectively.

Ukraine's hryvnia UAH= firmed 0.6% against the dollar, though hovering near record lows. The government proposed its first wartime hike in taxes to fund its conflict with Russia.

Nigeria's naira NGN= weakened 0.8% against the euro, while yield on 2-year sovereign bonds NG2YT=RR inched up 11 basis points (bps).

The local central bank sold the dollar on Thursday to prop up the naira, saying that distortions in the retail market was feeding into parallel markets and widening the country's exchange rate premium.


For GRAPHIC on emerging market FX performance in 2024 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh

For GRAPHIC on MSCI emerging index performance in 2024 https://tmsnrt.rs/2OusNdX


Reporting by Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur

For TOP NEWS across emerging markets nTOPEMRG
For CENTRAL EUROPE market report, see CEE/
For TURKISH market report, see .IS
For RUSSIAN market report, see RU/RUB
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