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EMERGING MARKETS-Russian rouble rallies; Colombian stocks surge to near 2-year highs

By Susan Mathew Jan 19 (Reuters) - Russia's volatile rouble jumped 1% on Wednesday with investors monitoring headlines around the Ukraine crisis, and Latin American currencies rallied too as the dollar dipped. The rouble briefly moved below 76 per dollar and Russian and Ukrainian government bonds rallied after Russia's deputy foreign minister said Moscow had no plans to strike Ukraine. But U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russia could launch an attack on its neighbour at "very short notice." He is set to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday. While most emerging market assets struggled earlier in day as U.S. Treasury yields hit two-years on rising bets about a hawkish Federal Reserve, a dip in the dollar and Wall Street futures pointing to a higher open lent some support. "With the notable exception of Turkey, net capital outflows from emerging markets have eased over the past month," Capital Economics said in a note. "However, the global backdrop for EMs (emerging markets) this year will be challenging, particularly for those countries where external vulnerabilities are high or growing," they said referring to Turkey and parts of central and eastern Europe and Latin America. South Africa's rand also rallied more than 1% after faster than expected inflation data piled pressure on the central bank to raise the benchmark interest rate next week. The rate is seen being hiked by 25 basis points to 4.0%. Brazil's real led gains among Latin American currencies, up 0.8% and looking to make back Tuesday's losses. President Jair Bolsonaro is expected to sign the 2022 budget on Jan. 21, which would remove a point of uncertainty for a market that is bracing for presidential elections in October. Former president, leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is seen gaining popularity as far-right Bolsonaro's drops. Argentina's heavily controlled peso was flat after the country's Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner slammed payments to the International Monetary Fund as costing the country more than COVID-19, as talks over a new $40 billion deal show little sign of advancing. Among stocks, Colombia's COLCAP index jumped 4% to hit February 2020 highs, extending Tuesday's stellar session when it gained 6.3%. The index is on track to mark its biggest two-day gain in seven weeks. After Citi announced a plan to sell its Mexican consumer banking unit last week, analysts from Bank of America Securities said Mexican bank Banorte would be best placed to buy the assets. Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1425 GMT: Stock indexes Latest Daily % change MSCI Emerging Markets 1240.94 -0.05 MSCI LatAm 2227.19 0.91 Brazil Bovespa 108227.61 1.46 Mexico IPC - - Chile IPSA 4525.88 0.56 Argentina MerVal - - Colombia COLCAP 1585.23 4.14 Currencies Latest Daily % change Brazil real 5.5136 0.84 Mexico peso 20.3916 0.06 Chile peso 814.8 0.23 Colombia peso 4003.01 0.75 Peru sol 3.8601 -0.33 Argentina peso 104.2200 -0.05 (interbank) (Reporting by Susan Mathew in Bengaluru Editing by Mark Potter)