* Aussie dollar adds 0.3% but remains heavily sold this year
* Yuan, Asia FX advance against dollar and yen
* For an Eikon page tracking the coronavirus, click here https://amers1.apps.cp.extranet.thomsonreuters.biz/cms/?navid=747389195
* Graphic: World FX rates in 2020 https://tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E
By Tom Westbrook
SINGAPORE, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Heavily-sold Asian currencies
were modestly firmer on Tuesday, as investor risk appetite
recovered with an apparent slowdown in the rate of coronavirus
infection, even as the death toll rose.
China reported 108 new coronavirus deaths on Tuesday,
bringing the total number of people killed in the country to
1,016, yet the number of new cases fell. The Australian dollar, which is highly sensitive to China's
economic health because of Australia's commodity-heavy export
profile, rose 0.3% to $0.6707 AUD=D3 . It had hit a decade low
on Monday and remains nearly 4.5% lower this year. AUD/
China's yuan was firm at 6.9773 per dollar and the People's
Bank of China held its mid-point guidance relatively steady,
even though the U.S. dollar had gained sharply overnight CNY= .
CNY/
"The absolute number of cases continues to climb. That
remains a worry. But where the market has taken a bit of comfort
is that the rate of infection seems to have come down," said
Bank of Singapore currency strategist Moh Siong Sim.
"The other thing that's been somewhat comforting is that the
Chinese currency has gone back below 7 (per dollar)," he said.
"That's been somewhat of a stabilising influence for the rest of
the Asian currencies."
The Japanese yen JPY= was slightly softer by mid-session
at 109.84 per dollar. Volumes were lightened because it is a
public holiday in Japan and markets there are closed.
The Korean won KRW= , Singapore dollar SGD= and Thai baht
THB= - all recently trampled in a rush to dollars and yen -
each advanced on the majors on Tuesday. EMRG/FRX
Yet, as an advance team of international experts arrived in
China to investigate the coronavirus outbreak, plenty of jitters
remain.
The World Health Organization has warned the spread of
coronavirus among people who had not been to China could be "the
spark that becomes a bigger fire".
JPMorgan has again downgraded forecasts for growth this
quarter, as businesses struggle to get back to work and supply
chain disruptions bite.
The nerves showed in the New Zealand dollar, which
languished close to a three-month low at $0.6390 NZD=D3 ahead
of a central bank policy meeting on Wednesday. RBNZWATCH
The market expects rates to be kept at a record-low 1%, but
will be closely parsing the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's choice
of words around the coronavirus' impact.
"They will probably leave the easing bias as it is," said
Westpac analyst Imre Speizer.
"But there are risks around the way they describe the
situation. They could describe it as potentially more severe
than others are seeing it, at the same time they may describe it
as less severe."
Elsewhere the greenback was marginally weaker against the
euro and pound after surging ahead overnight amid fresh signs of
divergence between the U.S. economy and Europe. Italian industrial output unexpectedly posted its steepest
decline in nearly two years on Monday, after the United States'
surprisingly recorded robust jobs figures last week.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell appears before
Congress on Tuesday to begin two days of testimony and is
expected to reiterate that the U.S. economy is doing well but
that rates can stay low given subdued inflation.
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Track the coronavirus on Eikon: https://amers1.apps.cp.extranet.thomsonreuters.biz/cms/?navid=747389195
For multimedia coverage of the coronavirus: https://graphics.reuters.com/CHINA-HEALTH/0100B59Y39P/index.html
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(Editing by Jane Wardell and Jacqueline Wong)