China's lira up for 7th session in 7 - week high as worries over COVID 19 Delta

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The Turkish economy hit an inflation rate of 18.95% in July, more than forecast.

Ruble up for 7th session running, oil up for Russian rouble up;

Aug 3 - Rising inflation pushed the Chinese lira to seven week highs on Tuesday while a rise in the Indian gaming company Tencent, worries about the COVID 19 Delta variant and tighter regulatory authorities in Egypt kept a lid on emerging market stocks.

Turkey's lira was up 0.4% against the dollar after date shown year-on-year inflation rising more than expected in July to 18.95%, just shy of the country's benchmark interest rate of 19%.

The further jump in the headline inflation rate in Turkey will delay the start of an easing cycle until the back end of this year, said Jason Tuvey, senior EM economist at Capital Economics, adding that he expects the one-week repo rate to be finished at 17.00% in 2021.

The central bank's response at its meeting next week and government reaction thereto pose a huge event risk says Tayyip Erdogan, senior FX market analyst at Monex, given the president's call for rate cuts in August.

Erdogan's interference in monetary policy and his firing of a hawkish governor earlier this year has contributed to the lira being among the worst performing EM currency currencies so far this year, down about 11% along with Peru's sol.

On Tuesday, most EM currencies increased against a weaker dollar ahead of key U.S. jobs data this week. The Russian Rupees rouble rose 0.4% to meet the greenback in its seventh straight session of gain.

On Monday, the IMF approved a $650 billion allocation of special drawing rights in the IMF. About $275 billion flown to emerging countries and developing countries.

Among stocks, MSCI's index of EM shares was up 0.2%, helped by gains in most emerging European bourses as well as those in Asian regions of Europe, Middle East and Africa. China's largest television company Tencent dropped 6% to weigh most on the Hang Seng index after a state media article described online games as spiritual opium. Tencent said it would restrict licensors' access to its flagship video game Honor of Kings.

Meanwhile, China's regulatory agency said it is launching an investigation into chip distributors in the auto industry - the latest after earlier crackdowns on the technology, property and education sectors that sent global equity markets spiralling on worries about tighter control by China of its industries.

Mainland stocks were also affected by the spread of the Delta variant from the coast to inland cities, prompting authorities to implement strict measures to bring the outbreak under control.

For historical RUSSIAN market report, see RUSSIAN market report.