EMERGING MARKETS-Asian stocks climb, Philippine hits 9-month high on budget approval

* Flows into equities, bonds and money markets - https://tmsnrt.rs/2W2oc8z
* Thai markets closed due to a holiday
* S. Korea won marks first weekly loss in six
* Ringgit supported by high crude prices

By Anushka Trivedi
Dec 11 (Reuters) - Philippine shares rose for a second
session to hit a more than nine-month high on Friday, bolstered
in a mixed morning for Asian stock markets by this week's
approval of a 2021 budget that aims to fend off the worst
effects of the coronavirus crisis.
The Philippine index .PSI surged as much as 2.1%, adding
to more than a half percent rise on Tuesday and gains since the
start of October that have allowed it to recover most of the
first quarter's almost 40% slump.
While President Rodrigo Duterte's office was yet to receive
the budget bill approved by Congress on Wednesday, his spokesman
said Duterte would scrutinise the spending plan and do his best
to approve the 4.5 trillion pesos ($93.61 billion) budget on
time.
The Philippine economy, which before the pandemic was one
of Asia's fastest growing, is in dire need of fiscal support as
the government now expects a deeper contraction of 8.5%-9.5% for
the year.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is largely expected to hold fire
at its monetary policy meeting next week, analysts said, adding
they could not rule out an interest rate cut in 2021.
Jennifer Lomboy, a Manila-based fixed income fund manager at
First Metro Asset, said optimism about the national budget being
almost passed was the main driver.
"The possibility of yet another rate cut early next year
also drives the market as investors turn to equities in search
of better yields," she said.
Markets in Malaysia .KLSE and India .NSEI also rose as
foreign investors were lured by low valuations and high yields
amid signs that regional economies are rebounding. a mixed bag of news on vaccines overnight, Chinese
stocks .SSEC fell for a fifth straight day as more evidence of
tensions with the United States weighed on the market. .SS
Despite a soft dollar supporting most Asian currencies, the
South Korean won KRW=KFTC eased 0.2% to mark first weekly loss
in six, with Khoon Goh, head of Asia research at ANZ pinning the
won's underperformance to profit-taking.
Malaysia's ringgit MYR=MY gained 0.3% to hit its highest
in over seven months as crude prices rallied above $50 per
barrel mark. Malaysia is a net exporter of oil. O/R
Financial markets in Thailand were shut for a holiday.


HIGHLIGHTS
** Indonesian 10-year benchmark yields are up 1 basis points
at 6.205%
** Top gainers on the Jakarta stock index .JKSE include
Surya Esa Perkasa Tbk PT ESSA.JK up 34.5% and Pool Advista
Finance Tbk PT POLA.JK up 34.4%
** Top gainers on FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kl Index .KLSE
include Public Bank Bhd PUBM.KL up 10.7% and Malayan Banking Bhd
MBBM.KL up 5.1%

Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0724 GMT
COUNTRY FX RIC FX DAILY % FX YTD % INDEX STOCKS DAILY % STOCKS YTD %
Japan JPY= +0.17 +4.41 .N225 -0.39 12.66
China CNY=CFXS +0.10 +6.48 .SSEC -0.77 9.74
India INR=IN +0.09 -3.00 .NSEI 0.61 11.44
Indonesia IDR= +0.07 -1.42 .JKSE 0.01 -5.80
Malaysia MYR= +0.32 +1.04 .KLSE 1.56 5.76
Philippines PHP= -0.03 +5.37 .PSI 1.28 -7.28
S.Korea KRW=KFTC -0.24 +6.06 .KS11 0.86 26.05
Singapore SGD= +0.16 +0.85 .STI 0.48 -11.93
Taiwan TWD=TP +1.20 +6.88 .TWII 0.09 18.88
($1 = 48.0500 Philippine pesos)