By Niket Nishant

Oct 27 (Reuters) - Hopes of a trade deal between the U.S. and China pushed emerging market equities to their highest since February 2021 on Monday, while investors also eyed Argentina after President Javier Milei's party secured a decisive victory in midterm elections.

The moves should help emerging markets kick off the week on a strong note, ahead of a potential trade agreement between the world's two biggest economies that is expected to remove a major overhang on global growth prospects.

An MSCI index tracking emerging market stocks .MSCIEF rose 1.3%. The currencies gauge .MIEM00000CUS, however, was flat and remained rangebound.

Later in the day, attention is set to shift to Latin America, where Argentina President Milei's party cruised to victory in midterm legislative elections held over the weekend.

The win is expected to give Milei the political capital to press ahead with sweeping reforms that have curbed triple-digit inflation, and could also draw foreign capital.

"Foreign investment is very underwhelming in Argentina. But the current administration is looking to stay on the path of reform. The opportunity in Argentina is absolutely unprecedented," said Thea Jamison, founder of investment management firm CHANGE Global.

TURKEY JITTERS RESURFACE

Turkey's main BIST 100 share index .XU100 eased 0.1% after hitting a three-week high in the previous session.

A Turkish court issued a fresh arrest order for Istanbul's jailed mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on suspicion of "political espionage", marking a new stage in an unprecedented crackdown on President Tayyip Erdogan's opponents.

Concerns about democratic backsliding in the country have unsettled investors in recent months.

Data released on Monday showed that the unemployment rate in the country held steady at 8.6% in September.

Separately, South Africa's rand ZAR=D3 strengthened 0.1% against the dollar while stocks .JALSH also climbed 0.1% after the country was removed from the Financial Action Task Force's "grey list".

The Nigerian naira NGN= was poised to strengthen against the dollar for the second straight day after its removal from the list.

Oil prices rose after easing fears that tariffs and export curbs between the U.S. and China, the world's top two oil consumers, could dent global economic growth.

"The view here would be that the meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday might see a formal agreement and enact a further delay of severe mutual tariff levels threatened in April," economists at ING wrote in a note.

Saudi Arabia's benchmark index .TASI, whose fortunes are closely tied to oil prices, was 0.4% higher. Oil behemoth Saudi Aramco's 2222.SE shares crept 0.2% higher.

(Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Conor Humphries)

((Niket.Nishant@thomsonreuters.com))