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Turkey's stocks hit record high, lira remains stable

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Kenya seeks to convert railway loan to yuan

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Taiwan dollar underperforms due to equity outflows

By Medha Singh

Aug 21 (Reuters) - Emerging market assets were mixed on

Thursday as investors awaited policy signals from Federal

Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at the Jackson Hole symposium, with

questions over the Fed's independence also in focus.

MSCI's gauge for equities in emerging markets

edged up 0.1%, while its currencies counterpart

dipped 0.1%.

The Fed annual research conference in Wyoming runs from

Thursday to Saturday, with investors closely watching Powell's

speech on Friday for signs that a rate cut could be coming as

soon as next month.

Earlier this month, a weak U.S. jobs report strengthened

bets on multiple rate cuts, pressuring the dollar and boosting

demand for emerging market assets.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump's call for Fed

Governor Lisa Cook to resign, based on mortgage fraud

allegations raised by one of his political allies, has reignited

investor concerns over political interference in the central

bank.

Cook said she had "no intention of being bullied to step

down" and that she was gathering information to answer any

legitimate questions.

"Despite pressures on growth, we think EM markets can

outperform amid likely Fed rate cuts and broad USD weakness as

'U.S. exceptionalism' fades somewhat," economists at Goldman

Sachs said in a note.

"We continue to see outperformance for EM assets vs their DM

counterparts."

Turkey's lira was flat, while stocks

climbed for the fifth day, hitting a record high.

The South African rand eased 0.5% to a 10-day low and

stocks firmed 0.5%.

Russia's rouble edged up 0.4% to 80.15 against the

dollar following recent volatility as investors tracked progress

in bringing Moscow and Kyiv closer to a ceasefire.

Russia said on Wednesday attempts to resolve security issues

relating to Ukraine without Moscow's participation were a "road

to nowhere", a warning to the West as it scrambles to work out

guarantees for Kyiv's future protection.

Ukraine's 2036 dollar bonds fell for a second consecutive

session.

Kenya's international sovereign bonds edged higher as the

country seeks to diversify its funding sources to support

infrastructure and economic growth amid global uncertainty.

An aide to Finance Minister John Mbadi told Reuters on

Wednesday that the East African nation's economy was in talks

with China to convert a dollar-denominated railway loan into

Chinese yuan. A Bloomberg report said Kenya planned to refinance

more Eurobonds and renegotiate bank loans.

Currencies in emerging Europe dipped against the euro. The

Polish zloty slid 0.17%, while the Czech crown

edged down 0.2% and the Romanian leu fell

0.1%.

Equities in Poland climbed 0.6%, Romania

added 0.2%, while Hungary bucked the trend to dip 0.3%.

The Taiwan dollar was the sole underperformer among Asian

currencies, weighed down by equity outflows.

HIGHLIGHTS:

** India's economic boom in August fuels sharpest price hikes in

over a decade, PMI shows

** Russian central bank official says further rate cut this year

is not a foregone conclusion

For TOP NEWS across emerging markets

For CENTRAL EUROPE market report, see

For TURKISH market report, see

For RUSSIAN market report, see