jan 19 reuters  emerging market assets took a beating on wednesday as us treasury yields surged in anticipation of a hawkish federal reserve while russias rouble inched higher with more talks slated this week over the ukraine crisis mscis index of emerging shares mscief slipped for a fifth straight session down 05 while its currencies counterpart miem00000cus was 01 lower markets now bet on at least four interest rate hikes by the fed this year with expectations for the first having been brought forward to march benchmark us treasury yields jumped to twoyear highs and twoyear yields breached 1 on tuesday even though market expectations have already run a long way it is difficult for the market to gauge whether it will be surprised on the slightly restrictive side next week said antje praefcke a fx and em analyst at commerzbank adding that there were now bets that march could see a 50 basis point hike chinas alibaba 9988hk slipped 21 after a report that the biden administration was reviewing its cloud business for risks to national security chinas cashstrapped property stocks rallied on news of more policy easing and were bolstered further by a reuters report that beijing was drafting nationwide rules to make it easier for developers to access presale funds held in escrow accounts read more russias rouble gained 05 with us secretary of state antony blinken scheduled to meet ukraines leader later in the day before travelling to russia for a chat with foreign minister sergei lavrov on friday russian dollar bonds steadied while those in ukraine enjoyed a small recovery after both dropped to their lowest since early 2020 in recent days price action in russian assets could get a lot worse if the next diplomatic effort on friday between moscow and washington comes to nothing analysts at societe generale said in a note new sanctions would inflict more pain on the currency and the countrys debt market and possibly prompt intervention by the central bank turkeys lira slipped 05 despite the central bank announcing a currency swap agreement with the united arab emirates central bank worth nearly 5 billion in local currencies focus turns to thursdays central bank meeting where investors hope that the policy rate will be kept unchanged at 14 after 500 basis points of cuts last year sent the lira to record lows read more chinese government bond yields fell across the curve after an officials comments heightened expectations the countrys benchmark lending rate will be cut as early as this thursday to shore up the cooling economy for graphic on emerging market fx performance in 2021 see httptmsnrtrs2egbfvh for graphic on msci emerging index performance in 2021 see httpstmsnrtrs2ousndx reporting by susan mathew in bengaluru editing by subhranshu sahu