Aug 22 (Reuters) – Emerging market stocks regained some ground on Thursday, while currencies were largely subdued as investors awaited U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole symposium on Friday.

MSCI’s emerging market equities index edged 0.2% higher. The symposium of global central bankers starts later in the day and markets are hoping Powell’s speech will offer further insights into the central bank’s interest rate path.

China’s Tencent Holdings, which has the second-highest weighting on the index, rose about 1.7%, but gains were capped by weakness in Chinese consumer and electric vehicle stocks amid simmering trade tensions.

Most Chinese EV makers fell as Brussels published its revised tariff plan for China-made EVs, potentially making the provisional penalties definitive. An index tracking EVs fell 0.7%.

Indian stocks also added some positivity.

An index of emerging market currencies was largely flat against the U.S. dollar, which hovered near 2024 lows after minutes of the Fed’s last policy meeting signalled a likely rate cut in September.

“The price action across the EM FX space on the day indicates that market participants are in a wait-and-see mode ahead of tomorrow’s speech by Chair Powell in Jackson Hole,” said Piotr Matys, senior FX Analyst at In Touch Capital Markets.

“The key question is whether Powell shifts in the odds in favour of a 25bps or a 50bps cut at the September meeting. Given that it will be an excellent opportunity for him to regain control over the narrative, Powell may push against what the markets are currently pricing in for the scale of rate cuts over the next 6-12 months.”

The South African rand was down 0.3% against the greenback, while the lira slipped and was last quoted at 33.95. Consumer confidence in Turkey rose to 79.6 points in August from 75.9 in July.

In central and eastern Europe, Polish zloty edged 0.1% lower against the euro after domestic retail sales in constant prices for July grew 4.4% on a yearly basis compared with expectations of a 5.6% growth.

Investors will also keep a close eye on the Polish central bank at 1200 GMT, when they publish the minutes from the last rate-setting meeting.

The Hungarian forint was also down 0.1%.

The Mexican peso was flat against the dollar ahead of the the minutes of its central bank’s latest monetary policy meeting, due at 1500 GMT.

(Reporting by Shubham Batra in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K)