LONDON Aug 31 (Reuters) – Emerging market shares were flat
near one-month lows on Friday, pressured by uncertainty over a
new round of central bank stimulus for major economies and
persistent weakness on Chinese markets.
MSCI’s main emerging markets index was on track
for a monthly loss after two months of gains while Shanghai, its
biggest component, slid to its lowest close since Feb 2009,
falling for the fourth month in a row.
Hopes have waned that U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben
Bernanke will provide a clear sign that the Fed’s third batch of
quantitative easing is imminent when he speaks at a central
bankers’ conference later on Friday..
Despite an apparent uptick in the U.S. economy, the picture
elsewhere remains dire, with Japan posting surprisingly weak
industrial output this week, Indian growth near
three-year lows and Poland’s economy slowing more than expected.
Emerging European stocks, however, rose 0.8 percent after
three days of heavy losses, tracking gains on
Western European bourses that were buoyed by Spanish and Italian
markets.
On currencies, a bounce in the euro fuelled gains for
central Europe, with the zloty and forint rising 0.3 percent
each .
The Russian rouble, South African rand and Turkish lira
stayed near one-month lows to the dollar .
Ukraine’s hryvnia touched a fresh 33-month low
against the greenback on growing expectations of a post-election
devaluation.
(Reporting by Sujata Rao; editing by Patrick Graham)
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