EMERGING MARKETS-Fed-cut fever lifts EM stocks; Turkey slides to worst week since Imamoglu detention

By Pranav Kashyap and Twesha Dikshit

Sept 5 (Reuters) - Emerging market stocks headed for weekly gains on Friday as investors doubled down on expectations of U.S. Federal Reserve rate cuts, but currencies barely budged.

Thailand was in the spotlight as Anutin Charnvirakul was elected prime minister, trouncing the candidate of the Shinawatra family's once-dominant ruling party and ending a week of chaos after the court ousted the previous leader.

The baht THB= rose 0.3% to a more than one-month high and the SET index .SETI gained nearly 1%, hovering near Thursday's three-week peak.

"Thailand is one of the most politically volatile countries. We're patient.. because it does create opportunities where we're looking at out-of-favour companies and quite often you find it due to situations like these," said Charles Sunnucks, emerging markets fund manager at Oldfield Partners.

Turkey bucked the broader EM rally, with Istanbul stocks .XU100 on track for their worst week since mid-March — the period when the arrest of opposition heavyweight Ekrem Imamoglu ignited a selloff and forced the central bank to intervene.

Just as Turkish equities had been narrowing the gap with the EM benchmark .MSCIEF, fresh political shockwaves — detentions this week of more opposition figures — stalled the bid and knocked the rally off course.

The lira TRY= was headed for its ninth straight week of declines.

The EM stocks gauge was up 1% on the day and on course for a more than 1% weekly advance — on mounting wagers the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates later this month.

However, EM currencies stayed stuck in tight ranges this week, as cracks in the U.S. labour market and widening fiscal deficits kept risk appetite in check. Safe-haven gold XAU= was on track for its best week in three months.

A gauge for EM currencies .MIEM00000CUS flatlined this week, but was up 0.1% on the day.

In central and eastern Europe, the Hungarian forint EURHUF= was headed for its best week in more than seven months helped by the central bank leaving its base rate on hold at the European Union's joint-highest 6.5% level for the past 11 months as inflation has rebounded.

Polish stocks .WIG20 rose 0.7%, with the energy index .ENER jumping 2% after the country's energy minister said power prices would be frozen at 500 zloty/MWH ($137.34) in the fourth quarter.

Russia's rouble RUB= limped toward its worst week of 2025, after the head of Russia's largest bank, Sberbank, said on Thursday that the economy was stagnating and unless the central bank slashed interest rates the country would fall into recession.

Chinese stocks .SSEC, .CSI300 were poised to snap a four-week winning streak, with the Shanghai index .SSEC set for its worst week since April as investors this week took profits after a recent AI-driven rally.

The Indian rupee INR= sank to a record low as continued jitters over U.S. tariffs weighed on sentiment, but suspected central bank intervention steadied the slide, traders said.

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