* Graphic: World FX rates http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
* Graphic: Foreign flows into Asian stocks https://tmsnrt.rs/3lKhL5I
* Thai shares mark biggest intraday pct fall in nearly 2
weeks
* Singapore c.bank leaves monetary policy unchanged
* S.Korea c.bank keeps rates steady
By Shriya Ramakrishnan
Oct 14 (Reuters) - Asia's emerging stock markets slipped on
Wednesday as halted COVID-19 vaccine trials and an impasse on
U.S. stimulus negotiations dented risk sentiment, while concerns
about a struggling economy and anti-government protests hit
Thailand.
Eli Lilly and Co LLY.N joined Johnson & Johnson JNJ.N in
pausing the clinical trial of its COVID-19 antibody treatment
due to a safety concern, leading Asian equities lower in line
with their U.S. counterparts and prompting a shift to safer
assets.
Thai shares .SETI fell 0.8% as trading resumed after a
holiday with sentiment weighed down by bearish comments from the
central bank. The Bank of Thailand said the economic outlook was
highly uncertain and it would take time for exports to recover.
Thailand has been hit by three months of protests demanding
a new constitution and the departure of Prime Minister Prayuth
Chan-ocha - a former junta leader. Protests have been largely
peaceful although demonstrators scuffled with police on Tuesday
and 21 activists were arrested. "The opportunity cost has not risen that much because
growth expectations were very low in the first place," said
Kobsidthi Silpachai, head of capital markets research at
Kasikornbank.
"So, if people were to bank that political developments
would derail incoming tourism, the plan for it wasn't very big
in the first place and markets may prefer to stay on the
sidelines."
Asian currencies were more of a mixed bag, with the
Indonesian rupiah IDR= and Malaysian ringgit MYR= weaker,
while the Philippine peso PHP= gained 0.2%.
The Singapore dollar SGD= also managed to remain in
positive territory, helped by the central bank's decision to
leave its monetary policy unchanged.
Preliminary data released earlier in the day also showed the
city-state's economy contracted slightly more than expected in
the third quarter from a year earlier. "The technical recession may be over but the economy isn't
out of woods just yet. A persistently weak services sector
suggests that the recovery from the COVID-19 slump is going to
be very slow," Prakash Sakpal, ING's senior economist for Asia
said in a note.
Taiwan's dollar TWD=TP , Asia's top performing currency
this year, stood out with gains of 0.9% against the greenback.
Taiwan's central bank said on Tuesday it bought $3.9 billion
U.S. dollars in the first half of this year to intervene in the
foreign exchange market to help tame a strong local currency,
which has made the island's exports more expensive. Shares in South Korea .KS11 fell more than half a percent,
but the won KRW=KFTC firmed 0.3%, drawing support from the
central bank's decision to keep its policy rate steady at a
historic low of 0.5%. ** Thailand's 10-year government bond yields TH10YT=RR are
down 2 basis points at 1.36%
** Top losers on Thailand's SETI .SETI include AQ Estate
PCL AQ.BK down 50% at 0.01 baht; TU Dome Residential Complex
Leasehold Property Fund TU-PFu.BK down 27.5% at 0.58 baht
** Top losers on the Singapore STI .STI include Mapletree
Industrial Trust MAPI.SI down 2.69% at S$3.25; DBS Group
Holdings Ltd DBSM.SI down 1.76% at S$21.21
Asia stock indexes and
currencies at 0435 GMT
COUNTRY FX RIC FX FX INDEX STOCK STOCKS
DAILY YTD % S YTD %
% DAILY
%
Japan JPY= +0.06 +3.04 .N225 0.11 -0.13
China CNY=CFXS +0.10 +3.34 .SSEC -0.54 9.56
India INR=IN -0.03 -2.73 .NSEI -0.81 -2.71
Indonesi IDR= -0.29 -5.72 .JKSE 0.30 -18.28
a
Malaysia MYR= -0.10 -1.33 .KLSE -0.29 -4.28
Philippi PHP= +0.22 +4.22 .PSI 0.12 -24.12
nes
S.Korea KRW=KFTC +0.33 +1.15 .KS11 -0.62 8.67
Singapor SGD= +0.09 -1.05 .STI -0.55 -20.77
e
Taiwan TWD=TP +0.91 +5.05 .TWII -0.18 7.72
Thailand THB=TH +0.03 -3.95 .SETI -0.83 -20.07