EMERGING MARKETS-EM assets mixed as focus shifts to Jackson Hole

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 .MSCIEF edged up 0.1%, while its currencies counterpart .MIEM00000CUS 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 TRYTOM=D3 was flat, while stocks .XU100 climbed for the fifth day, hitting a record high.

The South African rand ZAR= eased 0.5% to a 10-day low and stocks .JTOPI firmed 0.5%.

Russia's rouble RUB= 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 EURPLN= slid 0.17%, while the Czech crown EURCZK= edged down 0.2% and the Romanian EURRON= leu fell 0.1%.

Equities in Poland .WIG20 climbed 0.6%, Romania .BETI added 0.2%, while Hungary .BUX 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

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For CENTRAL EUROPE market report, see CEE/

For TURKISH market report, see .IS

For RUSSIAN market report, see RU/RUB