EMERGING MARKETS-Israel's shekel weakens ahead of rate verdict, Asia stocks fall
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Israel rate decision at 1400 GMT
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Hungary rate decision on Tuesday
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China stocks snap 9-day win streak
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South Africa's Sasol falls after 34% HY profit drop
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Stocks down 0.4%, FX adds 0.1%
By Shashwat Chauhan
Feb 26 (Reuters) - A gauge on emerging market stocks dipped on Monday as most bourses in Asia took a hit on the first day of the week, while Israel's shekel was under pressure ahead of its central bank's monetary policy decision.
As of 0921 GMT, MSCI's gauge for emerging market stocks dipped 0.4% as stocks in EM heavyweight China closed 1.0% lower, snapping a nine-day winning streak.
Bourses in South Korea and Hong Kong also started the week on softer footing, falling 0.8% and 0.5%, respectively.
Focus will remain on Israel, with the shekel falling 0.3% to 3.6302 per dollar ahead of the Bank of Israel's verdict on monetary policy at 1400 GMT, with traders split between a quarter-point rate cut or the bank opting to stand pat at 4.5%.
In Europe, the Hungarian forint led losses early on, down 0.6% against the euro ahead of its central bank rate decision on Tuesday, with bets hinting at the bank cutting its base rate by 100 bps to 9%.
The Czech crown was pinned at 25.357 per euro, while Poland's zloty eased 0.2%.
A broader gauge of EM currencies edged 0.1% higher, while South Africa's rand fell 0.1% against the dollar
Stocks in Johannesburg dropped 1.1% as Sasol , the world's biggest producer of fuels and chemicals from coal and gas, fell 5.7% after reporting a 34% decline in half-year profit.
The Russian rouble hovered at near 93 to the dollar, while the dollar-denominated RTS stock index rose 2.4%.
A plethora of inflation data around the world will take centre stage this week, including a broader euro zone print and manufacturing activity figures out of China.
Also on the radar will be the Federal Reserve's favoured measure of inflation - the core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index - due on Thursday.
"All in all, we expect this last week of February to encourage less aggressive bets on Fed easing," Francesco Pesole, FX strategist at ING wrote referring to the PCE data.
EM currencies have been rocked lately as investors continue to scale back their enthusiasm around rate cut expectations from the Fed, amid signs of economic resilience in the world's biggest economy.
HIGHLIGHTS:
** Egypt's sovereign dollar bonds extend rally after UAE investment deal
** Fitch revises up Czech outlook on receding economic uncertainty
** Zambia dollar bonds jump after creditor agreements with China, India
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For RUSSIAN market report, see
(Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)
