EMERGING MARKETS-Asia stocks mixed, FX steady as investors eye Fed meet, Ukraine peace progress

By Roshan Thomas

Aug 19 (Reuters) - Asian stocks were mixed and most currencies held steady on Tuesday ahead of a key U.S. Federal Reserve meeting this week, while investors evaluated promising diplomatic signals toward ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Stocks in the Philippines .PSI shed 0.8% to log its lowest level since July 31. South Korea shares .KS11 too dropped 0.8%, while Taiwan .TWII lost 0.5%.

On the other hand, Singapore equities .STI and Malaysia .KLSE gained 0.5% and 0.4%, respectively.

Poon Panichpibool, market strategist at Krung Thai Bank, said the Fed's annual Jackson Hole symposium on August 21-23 could give hints on its interest rate plans.

Investors trimmed their exposure ahead of clearer signals from the Fed, and booked profits after strong gains in recent months, he said.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell is expected to speak at the symposium.

"Powell will likely calibrate his message, keeping the door open for an insurance cut to avert a sharper deterioration in the labour market, while cautioning against excessive or rapid rate cuts that may undermine the need for vigilance against tariff-induced inflation," DBS said in a note on Tuesday.

"Markets will also scrutinise how far U.S. President Donald Trump has tilted the Fed's internal balance away from Powell’s cautious stance."

Meanwhile, following the White House summit with European leaders, Trump assured Ukraine on Monday that Washington would help guarantee its security in any deal to end the war with Russia.

Investors remained cautious as they awaited further details and that kept the dollar index =USD steady.

Asian currencies were largely muted against the dollar. The Philippine peso PHP= and the Taiwanese dollar TWD=TP both inched 0.2% lower. Other regional currencies were largely flat.

In Indonesia, the rupiah IDR= dropped 0.5% as markets reopened after a long weekend, with investors awaiting Bank Indonesia's (BI) policy decision on August 20. The benchmark stock index .JKSE edged 0.1% lower.

BI is expected to pause its easing cycle to gauge the impact of earlier rate cuts, as inflation has picked up and economic momentum stayed solid last quarter, a Reuters poll showed.

"We remain opportunistic in terms of further rate cuts from the BI for the rest of the year," said Lavanya Venkateswaran, senior economist, OCBC.

In the Americas, Bolivia's international dollar bonds USP37878AE81=TE advanced after early official results on Monday showed the ruling socialist party on track for its worst election defeat in a generation.

HIGHLIGHTS:

** Thai cabinet approves draft law to set up credit guarantee agency, official says

** Malaysia's July exports jump 6.8% y/y, much stronger than market forecast