EMERGING MARKETS-Down as Hungary adds to euro zone worries

                                
 * Hungary pension reforms add to euro zone worries
                                
 * Hungarian stocks plunge 4 pct, forint at two-month lows
                                
 * South African rand skids to 10-week lows.
                                
 
                                
 By Peter Apps
                                
 LONDON, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Emerging market assets fell
across the board on Friday led by Hungary where worries over
pension reform came on top of wider market concern over euro
zone troubles and tensions on the Korean peninsula.
                                
 Benchmark emerging stocks <.MSCIEF> lost 1.59 percent but
remained above Wednesday's near-two month lows, underperforming
the wider global stocks index <.MIWD00000PUS> which lost 0.97
percent.The emerging stocks index is set for a third successive
weekly loss.
 Emerging debt was also broadly weaker, with benchmark
emerging sovereign debt spreads <11EMJ> trading five basis
points wider at 252 bps over US Treasuries.
                                
 "Whether you're looking at equities, fixed income or
currencies, sentiment has been hit by the spillover from the
euro zone periphery and the Hungarian situation," said Cheuvreux
emerging strategist Simon Quijano-Evans. 
                                
 "Confidence has been shaken. This is a difficult time
despite positive underlying dynamics," he added.
                                
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 Portugal and the European Commission denied a news report
that most euro zone countries and the European Central Bank were
putting pressure on Lisbon to seek a bailout. [ID:nLDE6AP0F4]
                                
 Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero flatly
ruled out a bailout for Spain. [ID:nLDE6AP0SV].
                                
 Lisbon has approved an austere 2011 budget aimed at warding
off the economic crisis that has engulfed Ireland.
                                
 Meanwhile, investors are also watching rhetoric between
North and South Korea, with a US carrier battle group headed to
the increasingly tense region following an artillery exchange
earlier this week.
                                
 South Korean shares <.KS11> were the worst performing in
Asian, with trading cautious and subdued and many investors
absent given the U.S. Thanksgiving weekend.
                                
 "The same two themes, peripheral Europe and Korea, continue
to drive the negative sentiment," said Royal Bank of Canada in a
research note.
                                
 Hungarian equities <.BUX> were the largest losers in Europe,
down 3.6 percent, sinking to five-month lows, hit by the
government's proposed reforms to the pension system.
                                
 Budapest's plans to force taxpayers and their assets back
into the state pension also undermined the forint <EURHUF=>,
which skidded 1 percent to a nine-week low against the euro.
[ID:nLDE6AO1TJ].
Hungarian bond yields jumped by 30-40 basis points across
the curve.
                                
 Emerging currencies were broadly lower, with the South
African rand <ZAR=> down 1.5 percent to a 10-week low.
                                
 South African Finance Minister Gordhan Pravin told a
business forum that the government would wait to see if recently
unveiled measures to moderate capital inflows worked before
deciding if further steps were required to maintain a stable and
competitive currency rate. [ID:nLDE6AP125]
                                
 Despite a broadly weaker euro, the zloty <EURPLN=> and the
Czech crown <EURCZK=>both slipped about 1.6 percent 
                                
(Additional reporting by Sebastian Tong; Editing by Ruth
Pitchford)