(Repeats for additional subscribers, no change to text)
* Philippine stock markets were shut due to a holiday
* Thai cenbank briefing awaited on Wednesday
* South Korea stocks fall 1%
* Dollar will decline 5%-10% against most currencies in 2021
- ING
By Anushka Trivedi
Dec 8 (Reuters) - Most emerging Asia stock markets eked out
gains on Tuesday as expectations for U.S. economic stimulus
broadly supported global appetite for riskier assets, though
fresh concerns about the coronavirus pandemic capped sentiment.
Stock markets in Singapore .STI , Malaysia .KLSE and
Indonesia .JKSE gained up to 0.2% following a mixed Wall
Street session as concerns over record case numbers in
California weighed on sentiment. .N
Markets are also closely watching for developments in
Washington where lawmakers are due to vote this week on a
stopgap funding bill to provide more time for them to reach a
deal on a bigger COVID-19 relief package.
"On any other day, we could have had this news flow and
still pushed higher in risk, so this selective mindset is just
the market sitting on its hands waiting for the next shoe to
drop," said Chris Weston, head of research at Melbourne
brokerage Pepperstone.
Meanwhile, South Korea's stock index .KS11 slumped 0.9%
after five session of gains, while the won KRW=KFTC slipped as
authorities there warned that total coronavirus cases could
spike to 900 next week which could "collapse" the country's
health system. However, the government on early Tuesday said it had signed
deals with four companies to provide coronavirus vaccines for 44
million people.
Philippine equities .PSI did not trade due to a holiday.
In the Asian currency markets, most units firmed against a
subdued greenback .DXY , with Taiwan's dollar TWD=TP gaining
1%.
Possible U.S. fiscal stimulus and promising vaccine updates
recently have raised hopes for an economic recovery next year,
which has kept the dollar in check.
Analysts at ING expect the safe-haven currency to weaken by
5%-10% in 2021 against most units.
"In Asia, we expect a continuation of gains of those
currencies with large weights in emerging market benchmark
indices – the yuan, won and the Taiwanese dollar," they added.
The baht THB=TH firmed just 0.1% ahead of a Bank of
Thailand briefing on Wednesday where it will unveil measures to
contain the currency's appreciation. ** Thailand's 10-year government bond yields are down 2.5
basis points at 1.275%
** Top gainers on the Thailand's SETI .SETI : Max Metal
Corporation PCL MAX.BK up 100% and B-52 Capital PCL B52.BK
up 26.3%
** Top gainers on the Singapore STI .STI : Jardine
Strategic Holdings Ltd JSH.SI up 2.9% and Mapletree Commercial
Trust MACT.SI up 2.4%
Asia stock indexes and
currencies at 0426 GMT
COUNTRY FX RIC FX FX INDEX STOCKS DAILY % STOCKS YTD %
DAILY YTD %
%
Japan JPY= +0.03 +4.40 .N225 -0.31 11.88
China CNY=CFXS -0.09 +6.54 .SSEC -0.25 11.73
India INR=IN +0.00 -3.40 .NSEI 0.40 10.20
Indonesia IDR= -0.14 -1.56 .JKSE 0.19 -5.67
Malaysia MYR= +0.07 +0.54 .KLSE 0.18 2.33
Philippines PHP= +0.03 +5.22 .PSI - -7.83
S.Korea KRW=KFTC -0.18 +6.67 .KS11 -0.88 23.83
Singapore SGD= +0.01 +0.62 .STI 0.00 -12.32
Taiwan TWD=TP +0.97 +6.53 .TWII 0.43 19.35
Thailand THB=TH +0.10 -0.70 .SETI 1.02 -7.29