EMERGING MARKETS-Currencies tread water as tariff jitters persist; stocks down

By Shashwat Chauhan

March 13 (Reuters) - Most emerging market currencies traded in a tight range on Thursday as concerns about the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump's trade policies lingered, while losses in heavyweight Chinese and Hong Kong markets weighed on stocks.

Uncertainty around U.S. tariffs continued to dominate after Trump on Wednesday threatened to escalate a global trade war by imposing further tariffs on European Union goods.

U.S. producer price data will be in focus later in the day following a softer-than-anticipated consumer prices reading on Wednesday which gave markets only short-lived relief.

"The large uncertainty shock caused by the erratic economic policy announcements of the Trump administration greatly complicates the Fed's task," said Paolo Zanghieri, senior economist at Generali Investments.

Traders expect more than 70 basis points of U.S. rate cuts by December, with the first cut this year likely in June, according to LSEG data.

Currencies of emerging European nations weakened a touch against the euro, with Hungary's forint EURHUF= down 0.2%, while local stocks were largely subdued.

MSCI's index for EM stocks .MSCIEF, meanwhile, slipped 0.5% as shares in Hong Kong .HIS and Mainland China .CSI300 fell, dragged down by tech stocks.

EM stocks have outperformed the U.S. S&P 500 .SPX so far in March, as beaten down Indian equities have recouped some of their losses and Beijing has vowed more support for its ailing economy.

Central Eastern Europe was not far behind as hopes of a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine lifted sentiment, in contrast to a sharp drop in American equities, where the S&P 500 briefly flirted with slipping into a correction.

South Africa's rand ZAR= weakened 0.4%, extending losses from the previous session when a revised budget by South Africa's finance minister was rejected by major political parties, even though a proposed increase in value-added tax was sharply reduced.

The country's finance minister told Reuters on Thursday that budget may be tweaked further.

Ukraine's international bonds extended gains after Kyiv expressed support for Washington's proposal of a 30-day ceasefire with Russia. The Kremlin said it would review details of Washington's proposal before responding.

The 2034 maturity XS2895056013=TE rose about 0.2 cents on the dollar, to be bid at 58.32 cents, Tradeweb data showed

HIGHLIGHTS:

** Turkey cenbank to do 'whatever needed' to hit 24% year-end inflation target

** Romanian inflation at 5.02% y/y in February, above forecast

For TOP NEWS across emerging markets nTOPEMRG

For CENTRAL EUROPE market report, see CEE/

For TURKISH market report, see .IS

For RUSSIAN market report, see RU/RUB