* China stocks, yuan hit after July new home prices fall
* South African rand inches up before retail sales data
* Russian rouble steadies after emergency rate hike
* 'BRICS bank' issues first South African rand bonds
* Hungary's Q2 GDP disappoints, shows economy in recession
Aug 16 (Reuters) - Emerging market stocks were set for their fifth straight session of losses on Wednesday as heightening worries about a slowdown in China and the knock-on effect for the global economy kept investors away.
The MSCI's index for emerging market stocks fell 0.6%, while the currencies index slipped 0.1% by 0821 GMT.
China's blue-chip CSI 300 Index closed 0.7% lower, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index shed 1.4% after data showed domestic July new home prices fell for the first time this year.
"It's fresh evidence that the attempts to prop up the real estate sector by the People's Bank of China with cuts to key loan rates are barely scratching the surface of the deep problems," said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown.
Global hedge funds "aggressively" sold Chinese stocks amid heightened concerns over the country's property sector and a weak batch of economic data, a Goldman Sachs report showed.
China's yuan hit a nine-month low, as the widening gap between U.S. and China interest rates also fuelled concerns about more outflows from yuan assets.
Financial stocks led losses in Indian shares after a surge in domestic retail inflation, driven by rising vegetable and cereals prices, triggered caution.
Russia's rouble steadied at 97 against the dollar, one day after the central bank hiked interest rates to 12% at an emergency meeting and amid speculation over what other steps Russia may take to prop up its struggling currency.
Currencies in central and eastern Europe bucked the downtrend, with the Hungarian forint leading gains against the euro after Tuesday's sharp losses even as data showed Hungary's economy stayed in a technical recession in the second quarter.
Poland's GDP fell 0.5% year-on-year in the second quarter compared to a 0.3% fall in the previous quarter. The zloty rose 0.4% against euro.
South Africa's rand added 0.7% against the greenback, before the release of retail sales data. Retail sales in the African nation have contracted in annual terms in every month since December 2022, with rolling power blackouts a contributing factor.
The development bank founded by the BRICS countries closed the auction for its first South African rand bonds on Tuesday.
Nigeria's dollar-denominated bonds fell as much as 1.6 cents, according to Tradeweb data, after President Bola Tinubu said petrol prices did not need to rise more.
In Latin America, the International Monetary Fund reached out to the camps of Argentina's presidential candidates Javier Milei and Patricia Bullrich to coordinate meetings, a source close to the fund said.
Negotiators and officials representing Venezuela opposed a court-ordered auction of shares in a parent of oil refiner Citgo Petroleum to pay creditors claiming more than $10 billion from expropriations and debt defaults.
(Reporting by Bansari Mayur Kamdar in Bengaluru; Editing by Alison Williams)
