EMERGING MARKETS-Emerging stocks slip off two-year high, rand down 1 pct

A rising dollar and political uncertainty took a toll on emerging markets on Tuesday, forcing equities down for the second day in a row while the rand led currency losses with a fall of almost 1 percent.

MSCI's emerging market benchmark, which hit a fresh two-year high on Monday, eased 0.2 percent with bourses across Asia hitting a soft patch while stocks in Russia and Poland slipped around one percent.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised the test of a new ballistic missile on Monday and ordered the development of more powerful strategic weapons, prompting South Korea to conduct a joint drill with a U.S. bomber.

Media reports raising concerns over Greece and its next bailout payment and the possibility of early Italian elections added to the pressure.

"Emerging markets face stable U.S. Treasury yields ... versus a jump in G10 currency volatility on U.S. and euro zone politics as (President Donald) Trump returns from his voyage, the UK nears its 8 June elections and Italy looks to maybe join Germany autumn elections," Simon Quijano-Evans, emerging markets strategist at Legal & General Investment Management, wrote.

Politics also weighed on South Africa's rand, which extended losses for a second day after President Jacob Zuma defeated another call from inside the ruling ANC party to step down

Zuma is under mounting pressure from ANC members and opposition parties after he axed finance minister Pravin Gordhan in March, triggering credit rating downgrades.

Central European currencies weakened, even though European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said subdued inflation meant substantial stimulus would still be required, dampening expectations that some policy support might be withdrawn at the ECB's June 8 meeting.

The Czech crown, the Hungarian forint and the Polish zloty all eased 0.1-0.2 percent.

For GRAPHIC on emerging market FX performance 2017, see http://tmsnrt.rs/2e7eoml For GRAPHIC on MSCI emerging index performance 2017, see http://tmsnrt.rs/2dZbdP5

For CENTRAL EUROPE market report, see

For TURKISH market report, see

For RUSSIAN market report, see)

Emerging Markets Prices from Reuters Equities Latest Net Chg % Chg % Chg

on year

Morgan Stanley Emrg Mkt Indx 1012.61 -2.58 -0.25 +17.44

Czech Rep 1007.64 -5.26 -0.52 +9.33

Poland 2302.23 -21.35 -0.92 +18.19

Hungary 34041.26 -96.85 -0.28 +6.37

Romania 8716.92 +43.42 +0.50 +23.03

Greece 777.44 +0.25 +0.03 +20.79

Russia 1077.22 -8.53 -0.79 -6.52

South Africa 47639.87 +106.37 +0.22 +8.51

Turkey 97640.71 -85.24 -0.09 +24.96

China 3110.16 +2.33 +0.08 +0.21

India 31155.76 +46.48 +0.15 +17.01

Currencies Latest Prev Local Local

close currency currency

% change % change

in 2017

Czech Rep 26.51 26.49 -0.05 +1.89

Poland 4.18 4.18 +0.05 +5.43

Hungary 307.90 307.77 -0.04 +0.30

Romania 4.56 4.56 -0.00 -0.62

Serbia 122.57 122.56 -0.01 +0.64

Russia 56.50 56.46 -0.07 +8.42

Kazakhstan 311.56 310.58 -0.31 +7.09

Ukraine 26.35 26.33 -0.08 +2.47

South Africa 13.06 12.95 -0.84 +5.14

Kenya 103.30 103.25 -0.05 -0.90

Israel 3.56 3.56 +0.02 +8.16

Turkey 3.57 3.57 +0.22 -1.10

China 6.85 6.85 +0.00 +1.32

India 64.63 64.54 -0.14 +5.13

Brazil 3.26 3.26 -0.01 -0.10

Mexico 18.53 18.48 -0.30 +11.79

Debt Index Strip Spd Chg %Rtn Index

Sov'gn Debt 20 2 1 6 64

All data taken from Reuters at 08:52 GMT. Currency percent change calculated from the daily U.S. close at 2130 GMT.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)