* Upbeat china data boosts emerging Asian FX
* Indonesian rupiah leads gains on President's investment
pledge
* Indian rupee, Philippine peso benefit from lower oil
prices
(Adds text, updates prices)
By Aditya Soni
July 15 (Reuters) - Emerging Asian currencies got the week
off to a firmer start on Monday, buoyed by encouraging Chinese
economic data, while the Indonesian rupiah led the gains after
the country's president pledged to open up investment
opportunities.
Second quarter gross domestic product data from China
earlier in the day showed growth in the world's second-largest
economy hit its weakest pace in at least 27 years, as demand at
home and abroad cooled in the face of a bruising trade war with
the United States. While the GDP numbers met expectations, both June industrial
output and retail sales beat forecasts in a sign of some
stabilisation thanks to stepped-up stimulus from Beijing.
"That (data) shows that the policy stimulus is making its
way into the economy and helped offset the damage from the trade
war," Sim Moh Siong, forex strategist at Bank of Singapore said.
"Overall, the China growth is bumpy, but not faltering and
that is a relief for the rest of Asia,' he added.
The yuan CNY=CFXS was slightly higher.
The rupiah IDR= , the biggest mover in the region,
strengthened to a more than five-month peak.
The gains in the currency were underpinned by recently
re-elected President Joko Widodo's promise of faster
infrastructure development and more investment opportunities to
create jobs and growth in Southeast Asia's biggest economy.
"They are proposing opening up the foreign ownership and
lowering corporate tax, they have also proposed changes to the
strict labour laws, all these are positive indications that have
helped the rupiah to strengthen," Sim said.
The rupiah also seemed to shrug off a narrower-than-expected
trade surplus in June. J9N1Y902Q
Currencies of major oil importers, the Indian rupee INR=IN
and Philippine peso PHP= , firmed 0.2% and 0.1% as they
benefited from a decline in oil prices. O/R
The Malaysian ringgit MYR= was at its highest since April
15, while the Thai baht THB=TH edged higher.
The baht lost about 0.8% last week, its biggest weekly drop
since March after the central bank clamped down on speculative
foreign inflows to temper rapid gains in Asia's best performing
currency this year.
The following table shows rates for Asian currencies against
the dollar at 0436 GMT.
CURRENCIES VS U.S. DOLLAR
Currency Latest bid Previous day Pct Move
Japan yen 108.060 107.89 -0.16
Sing dlr 1.356 1.3577 +0.10
Taiwan dlr 31.043 31.081 +0.12
Korean won 1179.100 1179.2 +0.01
Baht 30.900 30.91 +0.03
Peso 51.050 51.12 +0.14
Rupiah 13930.000 13999 +0.50
Rupee 68.535 68.68 +0.21
Ringgit 4.106 4.111 +0.12
Yuan 6.876 6.8805 +0.07
Change so far in 2019
Currency Latest bid End 2018 Pct Move
Japan yen 108.060 109.56 +1.39
Sing dlr 1.356 1.3627 +0.46
Taiwan dlr 31.043 30.733 -1.00
Korean won 1179.100 1115.70 -5.38
Baht 30.900 32.55 +5.34
Peso 51.050 52.47 +2.78
Rupiah 13930.000 14375 +3.19
Rupee 68.535 69.77 +1.80
Ringgit 4.106 4.1300 +0.58
Yuan 6.876 6.8730 -0.04