* Thai markets closed for a holiday
* Indonesia's Gudang Garam and Sampoerna plunge
* China shares end flat after U.S. index exclusion
* Indian rupee slips 0.3%
By Anushka Trivedi
Dec 10 (Reuters) - Several of Asia's bigger stock markets fell on Thursday as falls on Wall
Street and the exclusion of some Chinese firms from the main U.S. stocks index dented sentiment
across the region, while new cigarette taxes hurt Indonesia's tobacco companies.
Upbeat lending data propped up Shanghai shares .SSEC but Singapore .STI and South
Korean .KS11 shares both fell as the changes by S&P Dow Jones Indices, driven by an executive
order from President Donald Trump, offered more signs of tensions between Washington and
Beijing. S&P DJI's move comes after index provider FTSE Russell said last week that it would remove
eight Chinese firms from its products to comply with the U.S. executive order.
Jakarta .JKSE , initially one of a handful of markets registering gains, reversed course to
lose 0.5% after the government announced the new taxes on cigarettes, knocking 7% off
heavyweights Gudang Garam Tbk PT GGRM.JK and Hanjaya Mandala Sampoerna Tbk PT HMSP.JK .
"The issue is not just the 12.5% excise tax hike, but the structure of the hike," said Suria
Dharma, head of equity research at Samuel Sekuritas Indonesia.
South Korea's won KRW=KFTC and stock index KOSPI suffered from concerns over the country's
coronavirus outbreak, as authorities scrambled to build hospital beds in shipping containers to
ease strains on medical facilities.
The Indian rupee INR=IN eased 0.3% against the dollar as analysts speculated the central
bank had returned to its policy of mopping up dollar inflows after a hiatus earlier this week.
Financial markets in Thailand were closed for a holiday, giving the baht a breather after
the Bank of Thailand weighed in on Wednesday with its own latest round of dollar-buying to halt
more local currency appreciation.
HIGHLIGHTS
** Indonesian 10-year benchmark yields are down 0.1 basis points at 6.214%
** Top gainers on FTSE Bursa Malaysia KL Index .KLSE : CIMB Group Holdings Bhd CIMB.KL up
5.9% and Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd HLCB.KL up 2.4%
** Top losers on the Singapore STI .STI include: Singapore Telecommunications Ltd
STEL.SI down 2.1% and Mapletree Industrial Trust MAPI.SI down 1.8%
Asia stock indexes and currencies
at 0734 GMT
COUNTRY FX RIC FX DAILY % FX YTD % INDEX STOCKS DAILY % STOCKS YTD %
Japan JPY= -0.27 +3.94 .N225 -0.23 13.10
China CNY=CFXS -0.03 +6.35 .SSEC 0.04 10.59
India INR=IN -0.25 -3.20 .NSEI -0.73 10.37
Indonesia IDR= -0.11 -1.53 .JKSE -0.23 -5.85
Malaysia MYR= +0.07 +0.71 .KLSE 0.49 4.15
Philippin PHP= +0.23 +5.37 .PSI 0.73 -8.46
es
S.Korea KRW=KFTC -0.27 +6.32 .KS11 -0.33 24.97
Singapore SGD= -0.07 +0.49 .STI -0.55 -12.27
Taiwan TWD=TP +1.06 +6.72 .TWII -0.98 18.77