Turkey gains on Syria; China policy shift drives up emerging market stocks 

Turkish construction and cement company shares surged on Monday, buoyed by expectations that they will benefit from rebuilding in neighbouring Syria.

Turkey, which has long-backed rebel forces across its border, saw the lira USDTRY slip 0.2% after the weekend fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

After 13 years of civil war, the rapid advance of a militia alliance spearheaded by Hayat al-Tahrir al-Sham, marked one of the biggest turning points for the Middle East in generations.

Turkey's non-metal index (.XTAST), which includes cement firms, was up 6.5%, while the construction index (.XINSA) rose 2.88%, while the yield on Turkey's benchmark two-year bond (TR2YT=RR) rose 0.57% to a two-week high.

Elsewhere in the region, the Israeli shekel USDILS gained 0.4% against the dollar, while its main stock index TA 35 (.TA35) traded flat. Lebanon's international dollar bonds rallied, with the 2031 bond (XS1720805537=TE) up 0.75 cents to 11.59 cents on the dollar, its highest level since April 2022.

"If the developments in Syria were a concern to the markets, you'd first see crude oil prices go up significantly or at least overshoot and the US dollar go up ... both are currently not the case," said Elias Haddad, senior markets strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman.

Oil prices were up 0.5% and at 1033 GMT the MSCI EM equities index CBOE:EFS was 0.57% higher at 1111.38 points, while in other emerging markets, stocks advanced after China's Politburo shifted its monetary policy stance.

Meanwhile, in other markets, Hong Kong stocks rose and Chinese government bonds rallied after the Politburo shifted its monetary policy stance to imply more easing is likely.

Benchmark 10-year yields (CN10YT=RR) fell about 2 basis points to 1.935%, a record low, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index (.HIS) jumped 2.8%.

South Korean shares KOSPI closed 2.8% lower to hit their lowest level in a more than a year after recent political turmoil in the country.

The Russian rouble USDRUB_SPT strengthened against the U.S. dollar, set to log its longest winning streak in nearly two months. Russia's budget deficit rises to 0.2% of GDP in the first 11 months of the year, the finance ministry said.

In Europe, Hungary's forint EURHUF rose 0.4% to the euro, after credit ratings agency Fitch revised its outlook for the country to "stable" from "negative".

Ghana's dollar bonds rallied, with the 2035 maturity (XS2893151287=TE) leading the gains, rising nearly 1 cent to 74.31 cents on the dollar after John Dramani Mahama staged a political comeback by winning the presidential election.

In South Africa, which is due to host the first sherpas, finance deputies and central bank governors' meetings of the G20 under its presidency in Johannesburg, the rand USDZAR gained nearly 1% against the dollar.

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