EMERGING MARKETS-Stocks fall on China, Russia rallies

* Emerging stocks fall 0.4 percent, debt spreads tighten

* Russian stocks rise sharply following BP-Rosneft deal

* Serbia c.bank raises rates, dinar rises 1 pct

* North Africa markets suffer on Tunisia crisis

By Carolyn Cohn

LONDON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Emerging stocks fell on Monday after policy tightening by China drove down Chinese markets, but Russian stocks hit a four-month high following a deal between Rosneft and BP.

Chinese shares <.SSEC> fell more than 3 percent to three-month lows after the central bank announced a 50-basis point rise in lenders' reserve requirements -- after Shanghai markets closed on Friday.

The cost of insuring Tunisian and other North African sovereigns' debt against default also soared as investors worried about political stability in the region. Worries about the euro zone debt crisis kept a broad cap on any optimism amongst investors, keeping emerging European markets under pressure ahead of a meeting of euro zone finance ministers later on Monday. "Equities are down a bit because of the Chinese reserve requirements, that's set the mood," said Nigel Rendell, emerging markets strategist at RBC.

"The euro zone worry in the background is cited as one of the reasons for a little caution." The MSCI emerging equities index <.MSCIEF> dropped 0.4 percent to its lowest in five days. Turkish stocks <.XU100> fell more than 1 percent to a two-week low. Russian stocks <.IRTS> rose 1.6 percent, however, with Rosneft <.ROSN.MM> up 4 percent after BP agreed on Friday to form a joint venture with the Russian firm to develop three of Rosneft's offshore exploration blocks in northern Russia. [ID:nN1458487]

Emerging sovereign debt spreads tightened by 3 basis points to 235 bps over U.S. Treasuries <11EMJ>.

Nigeria plans to issue a debut $500 million Eurobond on Friday following a roadshow this week, the head of the country's Debt Management Office said, while Russia's state bank VEB is planning a 300 million Swiss franc bond.

RATE RISES

Serbia's dinar rose more than 1 percent against the euro after the country's central bank raised interest rates by 50 basis points to 12 percent, its sixth rate rise since August 2010.

Other emerging European currencies, which have also been boosted by expectations of monetary tightening, were generally flat to slightly stronger.

The rand rallied from the day's lows after ratings agency Fitch revised its outlook on South Africa to stable from negative, citing a better than expected recovery from the global financial crisis.

Tunisia's five-year credit default swaps rose 25 bps to 190 bps, Egypt gained 40 to 320 bps and Morocco rose 16 bps to 160 bps, according to Markit.

"The kneejerk reaction has been fairly widespread, it raises questions about the sustainability of other regimes," said Graham Stock, chief strategist at Insparo.

"It depends very much on the response of the people in the street in each country. We have seen some weakness in Egypt, in Morocco, in Jordan, both stocks and debt."

The Egyptian pound hit its lowest in almost six years. The Tunisian stock market was closed on Monday.

(Additional reporting by Sujata Rao; editing by Patrick Graham)