Aug 2 (Reuters) – Emerging markets stocks slumped on Friday, tracking broader global risk-off sentiment as investors rushed for safe-haven assets amid worries about a U.S. economic slowdown.
MSCI’s index of emerging market stocks slumped 2.2%, set to clock its worst day in one year if losses hold, while an index of EM currencies was flat.
An initial boost to risk assets following the Federal Reserve’s meeting on Wednesday quickly gave way to concerns over global growth, after a weak U.S. ISM manufacturing report that followed further signs of economic slowdown in China.
“When China coughs, the world can catch a cold … emerging markets would be exposed here if risk sentiment were to sour further,” said Harry Mills, director at Oku Markets.
Some currencies in emerging Europe fared slightly better against a weaker dollar as investors turned to the safe haven Japanese yen and Swiss franc.
The Czech crown and Hungarian forint were up about 0.1% against the dollar, while the Polish zloty jumped 0.4% after falling in the previous session. The zloty gained 0.3% against the euro.
Both the Turkish lira and Indian rupee touched record lows against the greenback, while the Russian rouble slipped about 0.4%.
Focus now shifts to U.S. nonfarm payrolls data for July later in the day, where forecasts are for employment in the world’s largest economy to increase by 175,000.
“Investor confidence in the growth outlook may breathe a sigh of relief today should the payrolls number surprise to the upside, though, it’s a fight between investor sentiment and safety versus bets on Fed rate cuts,” Mills said.
Investors also grappled with rising geopolitical tensions, after the Israeli military said on Thursday that the head of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif, was killed, a day after group leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Tehran.
Bourses in Turkey, Prague and Warsaw slumped between 0.7% and 1.7%, following emerging Asian equities that were also broadly lower.
Indexes in Taipei and Seoul led declines as a selloff in U.S. tech stocks and disappointing results from Intel weighed on the tech sector.
MSCI’s EM stock index was on track to fall for a third straight week, however, the currency index was set to rise about 0.3% in its best week since mid-May.
EM debt-focused funds saw outflows of $0.2 billion over the past week, according to data from Bank of America Global Research, though EM equity funds have seen about $4.5 billion in inflows over the past nine weeks.
Elsewhere, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed defended the country’s decision to float its birr currency this week, a move which helped the country secure financing from both the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
However, the birr has slumped nearly 40% against the dollar since then.
(Reporting by Lisa Mattackal in Bengaluru; Editing by Conor Humphries)
