EMERGING MARKETS-Stocks slide as US-China trade war intensifies

By Pranav Kashyap and Johann M Cherian

April 16 (Reuters) - Emerging market stocks fell on Wednesday as investors grappled with the intensifying trade war between the United States and China, while South Africa's rand rose on the back of higher gold prices.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index .MSCIEF fell 1%, marking its most significant drop in a week and halting a four-day winning streak, its longest since February.

The decline followed the U.S. government's overnight decision to restrict exports of some chips manufactured by Nvidia NVDA.O and AMD AMD.O to China, a crucial market for the companies' top-tier products.

Asian stock markets, which are closely tied to the chip industry's supply chains, fell. Hong Kong's tech index .HSTECH was down 3.89%. Taiwan's benchmark .TWII dropped 1.96%, while South Korea's Kospi .KS11 slid 1.21%.

On top of reviews into pharmaceutical and chip imports, President Donald Trump also ordered a probe into potential new tariffs on all U.S. critical minerals imports.

China, meanwhile, instructed its airlines to cease taking deliveries of Boeing BA.N jets, as reported by Bloomberg News.

The relentless tit-for-tat tariff exchanges between the U.S. and China, compounded by the unpredictability of Trump's policy shifts, have left traders anxious about the broader implications for global economic growth.

"It has been our view that Trump cannot win the tariff battle with China. China can hold out for longer than the U.S., and eventually Trump will need to back down," said Mohit Kumar, chief financial economist at Jefferies.

"However, the initial administration policy is likely to be to isolate China to get more favourable terms. Thus, the path of an eventual deal is likely to be through more market volatility," he said.

The currencies gauge .MIEM00000CUS remained unchanged, while the South African rand ZAR= and Thai baht THB=TH advanced by 0.5% and 0.9% respectively. Both currencies closely track the price of gold, which is up 2.5% as investors seek safety in precious metals. GOL/

In Central and Eastern Europe, the broader index tracking the region's stocks .MIME00000PUS slipped 0.3%.

The CEE economies have deep trade ties with the larger Germany and French economies. However, S&P Global told Reuters that the region is unlikely to expect a big boost from Germany's fiscal expansion.

Investors were also closely monitoring U.S. trade negotiations with Japan, Indonesia, South Korea and Vietnam at a time when Chinese President Xi Jinping is trying to bolster relations with Beijing's Southeast Asian neighbours.

Pakistan's international dollar bonds XS1729875598=TE, US740840AC76=TE, USY8793YAL66=TE rose one cent on the dollar after global ratings agency Fitch upgraded its foreign-currency credit rating to 'B-' from 'CCC+', on Tuesday.

Elsewhere, Ghana and the International Monetary Fund reached a staff-level agreement on the fourth review of its $3 billion loan programme. The cedi GHS= and hard-currency bonds were little changed.