EMERGING MARKETS-Thai baht jumps nearly 1%; most Asian currencies, stocks mixed

By Sameer Manekar

April 16 (Reuters) – The Thai baht firmed almost 1% on Friday, resuming trade after a three-day break, while most other emerging Asian currencies and share markets were largely mixed as investors took stock of economic data from the United States and China.

The Thai currency THB=TH hit a two-week high after the dollar weakened, although it could face some pressure in the near term as new COVID-19 cases in Thailand see a record jump.

“Even if the U.S. dollar remains sideways or slightly weaker, Thai baht could weaken further due to the worsening COVID-19 situation which is likely to lead to more stringent lockdown measures,” said Poon Panichpibool, markets strategist at Krung Thai Bank.

Thailand, along with Taiwan, also risks being labelled a currency manipulator as part of a foreign exchange report from U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen expected this week.

In Russia, government bonds recouped some losses as investors considered news of U.S. sanctions targeting the country’s sovereign debt. The rouble RUB= strengthened as much as a percent against the dollar after tumbling 1% on Thursday.

The Indian rupee INR=IN firmed 0.6% and was set to appreciate slightly for the week, even as the country battles a massive second wave of the novel coronavirus.

“The second wave of COVID-19 is posing rising risks to the recovery. While our base case is that growth rebounds to 9% in FY22 from a slump of 6.4% in FY21, we see a 300 basis points downside risk to this forecast,” analysts at Bank of America said.

Many regional stock markets lagged global shares as upbeat U.S. retail sales and manufacturing data, as well as record first-quarter economic growth in China were offset by worries over surging infections.

Equities in the Philippines .PSI, Malaysia .KLSE and Indonesia .JKSE slipped between 0.2% and 0.8%.

Indonesia’s rupiah IDR= firmed about 0.3% ahead of a central bank policy meeting next week, where Bank Indonesia is expected leave its key policy rate unchanged at a record low.

In Singapore, the dollar SGD= was off 0.2% but on track to firm about 0.5% for the week. Stocks .STI scaled a more than one-week peak after the city-state’s non-oil domestic exports (NODX) expanded 12.1% in March.

“There is definitely an upside risk to our existing NODX forecast of 2%, and are now looking at a 2%-4% forecast, assuming that the global vaccine-aided recovery theme continues to take root and blossom into the second-half,” analysts at OCBC Bank said.

HIGHLIGHTS:

** Indonesian 10-year benchmark yields fall 5.7 basis points to 6.512%

** India reports record daily increase of COVID-19 infections on Friday

** Southeast Asia’s largest bank DBS DBSM.SI to phase out thermal coal financing

Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0703 GMT

COUNTRY

FX RIC

FX DAILY %

FX YTD %

INDEX

STOCKS DAILY %

STOCKS YTD %

Japan

JPY=

-0.11

-5.16

.N225

0.14

8.16

China

CNY=CFXS

-0.10

+0.01

.SSEC

0.79

-1.36

India

INR=IN

+0.51

-1.98

.NSEI

0.35

4.65

Indonesia

IDR=

+0.21

-3.64

.JKSE

-0.05

1.63

Malaysia

MYR=

-0.05

-2.55

.KLSE

-0.23

-1.40

Philippines

PHP=

+0.33

-0.64

.PSI

-0.69

-9.03

S.Korea

KRW=KFTC

+0.12

-2.70

.KS11

0.13

11.32

Singapore

SGD=

-0.05

-1.06

.STI

0.38

12.42

Taiwan

TWD=TP

+0.17

+0.53

.TWII

0.48

16.47

Thailand

THB=TH

+0.67

-4.22

.SETI

0.19

6.53

(Reporting by Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Uttaresh.V)

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