* Philippine shares hit near 1-year high
* Indonesia shares touch Sept 2019 high
* Malaysia stocks fall ahead of COVID-19 curbs announcement
Jan 11 (Reuters) - Asia's emerging currencies eased against
the dollar, underpinned by a rise in U.S. Treasury yields, while
Malaysian shares underperformed other regional stock markets
ahead of new COVID-19 curbs to be announced this week.
Some Asian stocks were supported by the prospect of more
U.S. fiscal stimulus under President-elect Joe Biden, which
weighed on U.S. debt and pushed 10-year Treasury yields to
10-month highs last week.
Philippine shares .PSI climbed nearly 2% to their highest
since February 2020 and Jakarta's stock market index .JKSE
gained over 1% to hit its highest since September 2019.
But Asian emerging currencies fell, with Indonesia's rupiah
IDR= weakening 0.6%, as the sharp rise in Treasury yields
arrested the dollar's recent decline. FRX/ US/
South Korea's won KRW=KFTC fell 0.9% against the dollar,
while the Singapore dollar SGD=D3 shed half a percent.
Analysts expect a Biden administration to boost stimulus,
particularly after the Democrats took over the Senate in
elections last week, making any further aid easier to pass
through Congress. Poor U.S. payrolls last week highlighted the
difficulties the world's largest economy is facing amid rising
COVID-19 infections. Barclays said the weaker dollar narrative and enthusiasm for
emerging markets "have been challenged earlier in the year than
we forecast, which may lead to a rethink of consensus trades"
for the week.
Elsewhere, in regional stock markets, Malaysian shares
.KLSE fell more than 1% with only a handful of companies
managing to eke out gains. Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin
Yassin is set to announce new measures this week to curb a surge
in COVID-19 cases. Industrial production in Malaysia also contracted
unexpectedly in November, data showed, further denting
sentiment. Citigroup expects the country's economic recovery to
remain soft into early 2021.
Singapore shares .STI also dipped 0.2% as investors booked
profits after the index crossed the 3,000-point level on Friday.
HIGHLIGHTS:
** Indonesian 10-year benchmark yields are up 11 basis
points at 6.238%
** Top losers in Malaysia include PETRONAS Chemicals Group
Bhd PCGB.KL , Hartalega Holdings Bhd HTHB.KL and Supermax
Corp Bhd SUPM.KL
** Fitch affirms Philippines, expects economic activity to
continue to recover
** China's factory prices fall at slowest pace in 10 months
in December stock indexes and currencies at 0435 GMT
COUNTRY FX FX FX INDEX STOCKS STOCKS
RIC DAILY % YTD % DAILY % YTD %
Japan JPY= -0.25 -0.91 .N225 - 2.53
China CNY=CFXS -0.18 +0.63 .SSEC -0.23 2.55
India INR=IN -0.31 -0.54 .NSEI 0.65 3.28
Indonesia IDR= -0.64 -0.21 .JKSE 1.29 6.02
Malaysia MYR= -0.30 -0.54 .KLSE -1.16 -0.80
Philippines PHP= 0.00 -0.12 .PSI 1.15 3.28
S.Korea KRW=KFTC -0.92 -1.25 .KS11 -0.99 8.61
Singapore SGD= -0.50 -0.80 .STI -0.29 4.95
Taiwan TWD=TP +1.63 +1.73 .TWII -0.06 4.90
Thailand THB=TH -0.30 -0.56 .SETI 0.43 6.46