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Poland rate decision at 1200 GMT

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Ukraine's newly restructured bonds to join key EM indexes

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South Korean shares slide 3.2%, Taiwan down 4.5%

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EM stocks index down 1.6%, FX flat

By Shashwat Chauhan

Sept 4 (Reuters) - A gauge of emerging market equities

hit three-week lows on Wednesday as stocks sold off amid brewing

global growth concerns, with chip stocks the worst hit following

U.S. firm Nvidia's ( NVDA ) sharp drop in the last session.

As of 0835 GMT, MSCI's index for emerging market stocks

shed 1.6%, hitting its lowest level since Aug. 15,

while a gauge for currencies was flat.

Chips-heavy bourses in South Korea and Taiwan

slid 3.2% and 4.5%, respectively, tracking a more than

9% drop in AI-bellwether Nvidia ( NVDA ) overnight, the deepest

ever single-day decline in market value for a U.S. company.

U.S. equities slumped in the previous session as sentiment

remained weak after Institute for Supply Management data showed

U.S. manufacturing remained subdued despite a modest improvement

in August from an eight-month low in July.

"A slightly weaker-than-expected ISM figure yesterday

contributed to a resurgence of growth concerns and contributed

to US stock markets declining," Daniel Bergvall, head of

economic forecasting at SEB said.

Mainland China shares eased 0.7%, while India's

Nifty 50 lost 0.5%.

The global selloff spilled over into emerging Europe, with

the Polish benchmark down 0.6%, while the Hungarian

index also eased 0.7%.

Amongst currencies, Poland's zloty was flat to

trade at 4.2786 per euro, ahead of a central bank rate decision

later in the day, with consensus tilted towards the bank holding

rates at 5.75%.

South Africa's rand appreciated 0.2% against the

dollar after falling about 0.9% in the last session.

A survey showed South African private sector activity rose

in August as firms received higher volumes of new orders for the

first time since April 2023.

Later in the day, market attention would turn to a July

reading of U.S. job openings, which comes ahead of Friday's

all-important August non-farm payrolls report that could offer

more clues on the Federal Reserve's September rate cut plans.

Money market participants are all but convinced that the Fed

will ease monetary policy when it meets later this month, with

59% leaning towards a 25-basis-points (bps) cut as per the CME

FedWatch Tool.

Meanwhile, debt issuance in emerging markets continued to

pick up, with Vietnam's State Treasury raising 2.56 trillion

($103 million) in a government bond auction.

Indonesia's finance ministry said the country has raised

$2.63 billion in 8-, 10-, and 30-year bonds denominated in the

dollar and the euro.

Just over $17 billion of Ukraine's newly restructured

government bonds are to be added to the world's most widely

tracked emerging market debt indexes, JPMorgan, the bank that

runs them, said.

HIGHLIGHTS:

** IMF mission starts fifth review of Ukraine program as

Kyiv reshuffles government

** Turkey cenbank deputy Karahan says fiscal policy critical

to slay inflation

** China's services activity expansion slows in August,

Caixin PMI shows