By Sruthi Shankar
March 19 (Reuters) – Most emerging market currencies and stocks slipped on Tuesday as the dollar strengthened on expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will keep borrowing costs higher for longer.
The MSCI’s EM stocks index .MSCIEF fell 1% to a near two-week low, with bourses in South Korea .KS11, Hong Kong .HSI and India .NSEI, .BSESN leading losses with a fall of 1% each.
Shanghai stocks .SSEC, .CSI300 shed 0.7% on worries over the country’s deepening property crisis and soft domestic demand. China is widely expected to leave benchmark lending rates unchanged on Wednesday.
The MSCI’s EM currencies index .MIEM00000CUS fell for a sixth day in a row as the dollar continued its recent climb. Hotter-than-expected readings of the U.S. labour market and inflation in recent weeks have led investors to rein in bets of quick and large interest rate cuts from the Fed this year.
“This week’s focus is on the Federal Reserve and the update on the Summary of Economic Projections, which will show higher growth and inflation for 2024,” said Saxo Bank strategists.
“The question is whether such forecasts will be accompanied by 75 bps of rate cuts this year. We see a higher probability of U.S. Treasury yields ending the week higher, with 10-year yields resuming their rise to 4.5%.”
Rising U.S. interest rates tend to pull investors towards healthier U.S. returns, in turn hurting emerging market assets.
The Turkish lira TRYTOM=D3 hovered near all-time lows at 32.34 per dollar ahead of a central bank meeting on Thursday. Most economists polled by Reuters expect rates to be left unchanged but see another hike later this year as inflation remains elevated.
The South African rand ZAR= touched a two-week low at 19.03 per dollar before easing to 18.97. Domestic inflation data, due on Wednesday, is expected to show consumer prices growing to 5.5% in February from 5.3% a month earlier.
Rating agency S&P Global Ratings revised Egypt’s outlook to “positive” citing “extensive external support program” while affirming a B-/B credit rating.
The World Bank Group said on Monday it intends to provide more than $6 billion of support over the coming three years to support Egypt’s faltering economy.
HIGHLIGHTS:
** Armenia’s PM says he must return disputed areas to Azerbaijan or face war -TASS
** Turkish cenbank net reserves dropped some $1.2 bln last week, bankers say
** Indonesia proposes injecting $3.7 bln into state firms in 2024, 2025, minister says
For TOP NEWS across emerging markets
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 Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; editing by Jason Neely)
((sruthi.shankar@thomsonreuters.com; within U.S. +1 646 223 8780; outside U.S. +91 80 6182 2787;))
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