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By Bloomberg

Most emerging-market stocks climbed as Hyundai Motor Co. led a rally for consumer-discretionary shares. Chinese equities posted the biggest two-day retreat in 18 months while Russia’s ruble halted a three-day gain.

Hyundai Motor rose 2 percent in Seoul after Yonhap News said the carmaker may boost dividends. Emaar Properties PJSC led a 3 percent increase in Dubai stocks and the Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index gained to a three-week high. The Shanghai Composite Index slid 2 percent amid bets China is seeking to cool the world’s best-performing major stock market over the past month. The ruble fell 0.3 percent versus the dollar.

The MSCI Emerging Markets Index was little changed at 951.62 as of 1:25 p.m. in London, with 332 stocks rising and 266 falling. Brent crude dropped 2.5 percent in London after surging yesterday on data that showed the U.S. economy grew at the fastest pace in more than a decade. Brazil’s market and most bourses in emerging Europe are closed today or a public holiday. Standard & Poor’s yesterday said it may lower Russia’s credit rating.

“As S&P has clearly shown, the risk of downgrade has increased significantly, given that Russian authorities have been unable to stabilize the FX market and shield the economy/banking sector from the perfect storm,” Moscow-based ING Groep NV analyst Dmitry Polevoy said in an e-mail. Next year “it will be a recessionary environment, with some more time with uplifted inflation, rising fiscal challenges and high ruble volatility. So, key is how the government will react,” he said.

Junk Status

The ruble weakened for the first time in four days. S&P said it’s considering cutting Russia to junk, or below investment grade, for the first time in a decade, as a looming recession spurs concern that the nation’s banks will face mounting bad loans. The Micex Index added 0.6 percent after three days of losses.

The Indian rupee retreated 0.4 percent versus the dollar and the South African rand fell 0.1 percent. The Romanian leu strengthened 0.4 percent against the euro.

The MSCI developing-nation equities gauge has dropped 5.1 percent this year and trades at 11.1 times projected 12-month earnings, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The MSCI World Index has climbed 4 percent and is valued at a multiple of 15.7.

Emaar Properties, developer of the world’s tallest skyscraper in Downtown Dubai, rose 2.9 percent as the emirate’s shares rallied after a 3.4 percent slump yesterday. Equity indexes in Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Qatar climbed at least 1.4 percent. The Nigeria Stock Exchange All Share Index jumped 5 percent.

China Slides

Four out of 10 industry groups in the developing-nation measure jumped, led by consumer-discretionary shares and raw- material producers. Hyundai Motor climbed the most since Dec. 4 after Yonhap said the board will decide on a dividend increase early next year. The Kospi index gained 0.4 percent.

The Shanghai Composite slid 5 percent in two days. Citic Securities Co. and Haitong Securities Co. both lost 9.1 percent today. China’s securities regulator this month cautioned investors on share purchases and started inspecting some brokerages’ margin finance businesses.

The premium investors demand to hold emerging-market debt over U.S. Treasuries narrowed three basis points to 339, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. indexes.