*

MSCI EM stocks index up 1.7%, FX up 0.3%

*

Thai minister says U.S. trade pitch gets positive response

*

South Korea discussed forex market with US Treasury

official

*

Trump meets Syrian president, says looking to normalise

ties

*

Ukrainian bonds drop, talks with Russia eyed

By Johann M Cherian

May 14 (Reuters) - Stocks and currencies across most

developing economies were higher on Wednesday, as investors

scoured for signs of new trade deals, while U.S. President

Donald Trump's tour of the Gulf region was also closely

monitored.

MSCI's emerging markets currencies index

edged up 0.3% against the dollar.

The stocks gauge rose 1.7% to touch a fresh seven-

month high, primarily aided by upbeat quarterly reports out of

Asia, such as e-commerce retailer JD.com ( JD ), Tencent

Music Entertainment ( TME ) and Taiwan's Foxconn.

Sentiment was also helped by relief after the U.S. signed

agreements with China and the UK, signalling a potential

de-escalation of trade tensions that rattled investor sentiment

in April.

Thailand said on Wednesday it has told Washington that it

will crack down on transshipments through its ports, buy more

U.S. goods and improve local market access to avoid steep

tariffs. The bhat and local stocks were steady.

South Korea's deputy finance minister Choi Ji-young met with

Assistant Secretary for International Finance at the U.S.

Treasury, Robert Kaproth, to discuss the forex market on May 5.

The won appreciated 1.6% and was last at 1,392 against

the dollar, while stocks closed up 1.2%.

India's trade minister Piyush Goyal is expected to lead a

trade delegation to the U.S. starting on May 16. The rupee

was flat, while local stocks were

marginally higher.

TRUMP IN MIDDLE EAST

Focus was also on Trump in the Middle East, where he met

with Syria's president in Saudi Arabia, after a surprise U.S.

announcement that it would lift all sanctions on the

Islamist-led government which is alleged to have links to Al

Qaeda.

Saudi Arabia signed a $600 billion investment deal with the

U.S., and U.S. chip companies Nvidia ( NVDA ) and Advanced Micro

Devices ( AMD ) also signed partnerships. The riayal was

flat and the oil exporter's stocks slipped, tracking

weak crude prices.

"Ample sovereign wealth and foreign reserve buffers and

relatively low debt levels should allow Saudi to cope with low

oil prices," said Hasnain Malik, emerging and frontier markets

strategist at Tellimer.

"Relative to Large EM peers, Saudi is cheaper versus

historical average than most peers in Large (emerging markets)

and (the Middle East and North African region) and structurally

reforming faster than all of its Large EM commodity exporter

peers."

Trump is scheduled to visit Qatar next and the country is

also expected to announce hundreds of billions of dollars in

investments in the U.S..

Romania's leu was steady against the euro, ahead

of a presidential election run-off due on Sunday where a

hard-right candidate could win and raise uncertainties for

investors.

In a minor relief for markets, the country sold $1.77

billion worth of bonds, more than triple its original offer.

Focus was also on potential Ukraine-Russia talks in Istanbul

on Thursday, while Kyiv said it concluded procedures for

implementation of a deal with the U.S. on exploiting minerals.

Ukraine's hard-currency bonds

and GDP warrants dropped

over one cent each on the dollar after the Kremlin said a

Russian delegation would be in Istanbul on Thursday for possible

direct peace talks with Kyiv.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said he would

attend talks with Russia this week only if Russian President

Vladimir Putin was also there.