EMERGING MARKETS-Most Asian stocks, currencies slip as vaccine rally cools

* Bullish bets raised on Asian emerging currencies - Reuters
poll
* India Oct CPI due later in the day
* Philippine stock markets closed as typhoon lashes Luzon
island

By Anushka Trivedi
Nov 12(Reuters) - Most of emerging Asian currencies and
stock markets settled back in cautious trade on Thursday after
the initial burst of optimism over headway in a coronavirus
vaccine trial.
Indonesia .JKSE , South Korea .KS11 and Singapore .STI
equities slipped between 0.3% to 0.6% after raking in gains
earlier this week on U.S. drugmaker Pfizer PFE.N reporting 90%
efficacy in its late-stage coronavirus vaccine
trial. Regional currencies traded sideways, with most drifting
lower against a broadly stronger greenback, although the
Taiwanese dollar TWD=TP remained an outlier, jumping over 1%
for a second straight day.
"Asia markets are seen trading mixed after the initial
euphoria cooled and with the region returning to the
wait-and-see mode," said Jingyi Pan, a Singapore-based market
strategist with financial services firm IG.
Concerns about distribution of the vaccine were at the
forefront, especially in highly populated countries like India
and Indonesia, which lack infrastructure required to carry out
such a large-scale operation.
"Challenges remains on the time horizon, manufacturing
capacity, deliver and storage of the vaccine even if it is
proven safe and effective," Margaret Yang, a strategist at
DailyFX said in a note.
"Many developing countries may risk a shortage of funds, and
a lack of cold-chain logistics to facilitate the mass
distribution of the vaccine," she added.
The Indonesian rupiah IDR= underperformed its peers as it
fell 0.4%, marking its worst session in almost two-weeks.
Investors went long on all trade-linked currencies after Joe
Biden's victory in the U.S. presidential election, a Reuters
poll found, with the rupiah benefiting especially since a drop
in Treasury yields raised Indonesia's high-yielding bonds'
appeal.
However, sentiment towards the Indian rupee INR=IN
remained relatively weak due to suspicions that India's central
bank was curbing its appreciation by buying dollars.
Traders were watching out for India's October inflation data
due later in the day, as it is expected to remain above the
central bank's desired range, erasing chances of an
interest-rate cut in December. Indian stocks .NSEI were 0.2% lower in early morning
trade.
Meanwhile, the Philippine stock markets .PSI were closed
due to a typhoon. Asia stock indexes and currencies
at 0442 GMT
COUNTRY FX RIC FX DAILY % FX YTD % INDEX STOCKS DAILY % STOCKS YTD %
Japan JPY= +0.15 +3.18 .N225 -0.13 7.02
China CNY=CFXS +0.19 +5.22 .SSEC -0.20 9.35
India INR=IN -0.03 -4.06 .NSEI -0.49 4.26
Indonesia IDR= -0.42 -1.77 .JKSE -0.59 -13.05
Malaysia MYR= -0.15 -1.06 .KLSE 0.54 -0.64
Philippin PHP= +0.12 +4.52 .PSI - -10.12
es
S.Korea KRW=KFTC -0.39 +3.78 .KS11 -0.61 12.42
Singapore SGD= +0.01 -0.33 .STI -0.37 -16.12
Taiwan TWD=TP +1.10 +5.57 .TWII -0.29 10.22
Thailand THB=TH +0.03 -1.16 .SETI -0.88 -15.59