EM stocks down as JD.com tumbles, FX subdued ahead of Fed minutes

Reuters

EM stocks down as JD.com tumbles, FX subdued ahead of Fed minutes

2024 8월 21 일, 오전 9:47 GMT

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Updated at 0915 GMT

Hong Kong stocks down as JD.com drags; China shares slip

South Africa CPI drops, raising rate cut hopes

Zloty weak after flurry of economic data

Fed minutes due at 1800 GMT

By Shubham Batra

Aug 21 (Reuters) -Emerging market stocks were down on Wednesday led by a fall in Hong Kong shares after JD.com 9618.HK tumbled, while the regional currencies remained flat amid caution ahead of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting.

MSCI's gauge of emerging market stocks .MSCIEF fell 0.4% and was on track for its biggest percentage drop since Aug. 5. The currencies index .MIEM00000CUS inched 0.1% lower against a softer dollar.

The biggest blow to stocks came after the Hang Seng Index .HSI dropped as shares of e-commerce giant JD.com tumbled following a stake sale in the firm by its biggest shareholder Walmart WMT.N as it seeks to raise up to $3.74 billion, according to a term sheet seen by Reuters.

Morgan Stanley in an Aug. 20 note said it has lowered its June 2025 target for the Hang Seng Index by 3% to 17,000, while increasing the target for the blue-chip CSI300 .CSI300 by 4% to 3,500 amid ongoing deflationary pressures on earnings.

The U.S. dollar =USD was languishing at its lowest level in 2024 ahead of the Fed minutes.

The South African rand ZAR=D3 was flat against the dollar after domestic headline consumer inflation fell to 4.6% year-on-year in July from 5.1% in June, coming within touching distance of the central bank's objective.

The Russian rouble RUB= weakened 0.6% to 91.65 against the dollar in a thin market.

In central and eastern Europe, the Polish zloty EURPLN= fell 0.2% against the euro as Poland's producer price inflation fell less than expected and industrial output rose below forecast in July.

On Tuesday, the central bank governor said Polish policymakers might consider cutting interest rates before 2026 - sooner than he had earlier indicated - if economic data allowed that.

Hungarian forint EURHUF=, which hit a 3-week high to the euro on Tuesday, was up 0.3%, while the Czech crown hit a monthly high.

Markets are also in a wait-and-see mode ahead of the annual Jackson Hole conference starting on Thursday. Fed Chair Jerome Powell, due to speak there on Friday, is expected to provide guidance for rate-cut expectations.

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

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 Shubham Batra in Bengaluru

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