By Claire Milhench

LONDON, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Chinese shares' biggest jump in almost three months lifted emerging market equities to one-year highs on Monday, as renewed tensions with Russia kept Ukraine's currency and stocks under pressure.

Chinese mainland stocks surged 3 percent to eight-month highs on bets that a disappointing run of recent economic data will prompt Beijing to unleash more stimulus. Hong Kong shares climbed 0.75 percent.

"It gives the market some comfort that China will contribute positively across the EM space with demand for commodities, which is important for sentiment more generally," said Jakob Christensen, head of EM research at Danske Bank.

MSCI's benchmark EM stocks index was up 0.4 percent, also helped by gains in some emerging European markets.

Ukrainian assets continued to take a hammering, however, after Russian President Vladimir Putin last week accused Kiev of sending saboteurs to the disputed territory of Crimea. Ukraine denied the accusation.

German and Russian foreign ministers met on Monday to discuss the situation.

Ukraine's hryvnia currency slipped 0.5 percent against the dollar to its weakest since end-May, and shares fell 0.3 percent to six-week lows. The country's restructured dollar bonds rose up to 0.75 cents after last week's sharp sell-off.

"It's a reminder to investors that this conflict is ... not resolved yet," said Christensen.

Russian assets - as well as those of other oil exporters - were boosted by gains in crude prices, which added another one percent to this month's 10 percent rally.

Russian dollar-denominated stocks rose 1.4 percent to one-month highs and Dubai shares climbed 0.8 percent to their highest since mid-April.

The rouble firmed one percent to its strongest level in three weeks and the Kazakhstan tenge rose 0.45 percent ahead of a central bank meeting on Monday.

HUNGARY APPETITE

Further west, the Hungarian forint hit a four-month high against the euro and Budapest shares rose 0.2 percent, supported by comments from the economy minister at the weekend that the government was planning a new stimulus package.

Earlier in Asia, the Thai baht hit its strongest level in more than a year after second quarter GDP growth beat forecasts, although analysts said bombings in tourist towns last week presented a downside risk.

"There is a significant risk that the bombings prove to be the start of a new violent phase of Thailand's long-running political conflict," Krystal Tan, Asia economist at Capital Economics, said in a note. Tourism accounts for about 10 percent of Thailand's GDP.

China's yuan weakened 0.2 percent, as unexpectedly large foreign exchange sales by the central bank in July and disappointing data on Friday renewed fears of capital outflows.

Turkey's lira was flat after poor unemployment data.

For GRAPHIC on emerging market FX performance 2016, see http://link.reuters.com/jus35t

For GRAPHIC on MSCI emerging index performance 2016, see http://link.reuters.com/weh36s

For GRAPHIC on MSCI emerging Europe performance 2016, see http://link.reuters.com/jun28s

For GRAPHIC on MSCI frontier index performance 2016, see http://link.reuters.com/zyh97s

For CENTRAL EUROPE market report, see

For TURKISH market report, see

For RUSSIAN market report, see )

Emerging Markets Prices from Reuters Equities Latest Net Chg % Chg % Chg

on year

Morgan Stanley Emrg Mkt Indx 913.29 +3.21 +0.35 +15.00

Czech Rep 864.62 +0.75 +0.09 -9.59

Poland 1857.70 -7.00 -0.38 -0.08

Hungary 27888.79 +75.90 +0.27 +16.59

Romania 6789.05 -45.56 -0.67 -3.07

Greece 576.12 +3.79 +0.66 -8.75

Russia 968.05 +13.47 +1.41 +27.87

South Africa 45813.36 +110.18 +0.24 +0.04

Turkey 78853.22 +624.66 +0.80 +9.94

China 3125.40 +74.73 +2.45 -11.69

India 28152.40 +292.80 +1.05 +7.79

Currencies Latest Prev Local Local

close currency currency

% change % change

in 2016

Czech Rep 27.01 27.01 +0.00 -0.05

Poland 4.27 4.27 +0.11 -0.21

Hungary 309.53 309.64 +0.04 +1.65

Romania 4.46 4.46 +0.04 +1.42

Serbia 123.07 122.90 -0.14 -1.30

Russia 64.28 64.75 +0.74 +13.50

Kazakhstan 343.25 344.98 +0.50 -0.80

Ukraine 25.12 25.00 -0.48 -4.65

South Africa 13.43 13.47 +0.29 +15.13

Kenya 101.40 101.30 -0.10 +0.79

Israel 3.81 3.81 -0.01 +2.09

Turkey 2.95 2.96 +0.12 -1.28

China 6.64 6.63 -0.13 -2.24

India 66.92 66.90 -0.03 -1.07

Brazil 3.19 3.19 +0.09 +24.16

Mexico 18.16 18.25 +0.53 -5.43

Debt Index Strip Spd Chg %Rtn Index

Sov'gn Debt EMBIG 368 1 .02 7 66.76 1

(editing by John Stonestreet)