* Most Asian stocks down
* Czech crown steady after PPI data
* Hungarian forint hits near 2-month low
* Stocks down 0.3%, FX off 0.2%
Dec 18 (Reuters) - Assets across emerging markets had a tepid start on Monday after cautious comments from U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers weighed down on market expectations of a dovish stance from the central bank.
MSCI's gauge of emerging markets stocks dipped 0.3%, while a basket of currencies slipped 0.2% against the dollar by 0930 GMT.
Both the stocks and currencies indexes had posted weekly gains as the Fed kept interest rates steady on Wednesday and signalled likely rate-cuts next year.
However, the rally was short-lived as the risk sentiment faded after Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams said on Friday that it's too soon to discuss cutting the central bank's interest rate target.
The dollar eased 0.2% against a basket of currencies, having lost 1.3% last week.
"The dollar is recovering some ground after the pushback from Fed officials against rate cut bets. However, the dovish Dot Plot may work as an anchor for rates and keep the dollar soft into the end of December," Francesco Pesole, FX strategist at ING, said in a note.
Most Asian stocks dipped, with Hong Kong shares leading declines of nearly 1%.
Chinese banks are putting bad loans up for sale at a record pace as regulators push for faster disposal of sour debts amid rising consumer defaults during an ailing post-COVID economic recovery.
China's yuan slipped 0.2% to 7.1313 per dollar as weak economic fundamentals dragged on sentiment, outweighing benefits from exporters' dollar sales towards the end of the year.
In Europe, Czech's crown was steady against the euro after data showed producer prices for November rose 0.8% on an annual basis missing forecasts of a 1.0% increase.
The Hungarian forint hit a near-two-month low and was last seen at 0.4% down against the euro ahead of a monetary policy decision on Tuesday, where the country's central bank is expected to cut interest rates by 75 basis points.
Turkey's lira hit fresh lows of 29.0665 against the dollar.
The South African rand was little changed, holding onto gains from last week.
Israel's economy grew slower than initially thought in the third quarter, data showed on Sunday, in the wake of Israel's war with the Palestinian militant group Hamas, helping to raise prospects of the start of rate cuts.
The Israeli shekel rose 0.4% against the dollar.
In South America, market focus will be on Chile, after the country's voters on Sunday rejected a new conservative constitution to replace its current text that dates back to the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship.
(Reporting by Siddarth S in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)
