Emerging FX-Weak in nervous trade before U.S. open

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LONDON, March 14 (Reuters) - Emerging market currencies dipped in Europe on Wednesday following sharp falls in stock markets across the globe, and trading was jittery before the U.S. open.

U.S., Asian and European stocks slid late on Tuesday and on Wednesday on fears that a crisis in U.S. subprime mortgages may hurt the broader economy.

Emerging market equities were down 2.25 percent on the day, but remained 5 percent above the year's lows set on March 5.

The yen also strengthened towards recent three-month highs, as investors unwound carry trades, where they borrow cash in low-yielding yen to invest in higher-yielding assets.

A sharp fall in Chinese stocks and worries about a U.S. recession triggered declines in worldwide assets in late February, but markets had begun to recover in the past week.

"The biggest moves were seen late yesterday. It's fairly quiet today in emerging markets but markets are nervous about what will happen when the U.S. opens," said Elisabeth Andreew, emerging markets strategist at Nordea in Copenhagen. "We recommend staying on the sidelines."

The U.S. calendar is relatively light on Wednesday, with weekly mortgage market data due at 1100 GMT and February import data and fourth quarter current account data at 1230 GMT.

The Polish zloty fell to one-week lows against the euro , before easing to 3.8990 by 0938 GMT, steady from the U.S. close.

Poland releases inflation data for February at 1300 GMT which is forecast to show a rise of 1.9 percent year-on-year, compared with 1.7 percent in January.

"Signs of underlying strength from the CPI ... are zloty-negative, as they will hamper debt market confidence," said analysts at RBS Financial Markets in a client note. "But euro/zloty direction will be dictated by global sentiment, with the threat of continued risk aversion likely to drive the cross on to 3.95."

The Hungarian forint also fell to one-week lows against the euro, before recovering to 251.69 .

The lower-yielding Czech crown gained slightly against the euro to 28.157 , the week's high.

The Czech crown is seen as more resilient to global risk aversion as it has also been used as a carry trade currency. Czech interest rates at 2.5 percent are the lowest in the European Union and a record 125 basis points below euro zone rates.

The Slovak crown was steady at 34.05 per euro after data showing Slovakia's foreign trade balance swung to a surplus in January from a deficit in December.

The South African rand was also steady at 7.4922 per dollar , after approaching 4-month lows earlier.