* Graphic: World FX rates https://tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E
* Philippine shares recovers after 2 days of losses
* S. Korea shares falls for third straight day
* India's top court rules against extension of loan
moratoriums
March 23 (Reuters) - Philippine shares bounced back on
Tuesday after two days of losses, while India reversed early
gains as investors jostled with a ruling by the country's top
court on the extension of loan moratorium.
Indian shares .NSEI , which had risen as much as 0.9%
during the day, were trading flat by 0625 GMT as the Supreme
Court refused to extend the loan moratorium beyond the six-month
period which ended on Aug. 31.
Beaten-down bank stocks initially jumped after the ruling
but pared gains as the court said borrowers cannot be charged
any form of additional interest for non-payment during the
moratorium period. The Philippine benchmark .PSI , which shed nearly 4% in the
past two sessions, climbed 0.8% boosted by real estate firms
.PSPR , which gained 2%.
Real estate firm Megaworld Corp MEG.PS led gains on the
benchmark, up 3.9%, and property developer SM Prime Holdings
SMPH.PS added over 2%.
Investors were reportedly encouraged by a repeated pushback
from Philippine authorities about hard lockdowns, said ING
economist Nicholas Mapa.
Philippine authorities prefer smaller, targeted restrictions
over a hard lockdown to support the economy, President Rodrigo
Duterte said in a live-streamed briefing on Monday evening,
according to Bloomberg https://www.bloombergquint.com/onweb/philippine-planning-chief-nixes-lockdown-amid-record-virus-count.
Weighing on sentiment, Chinese markets shed over 1% as
tensions between Beijing and Western countries heated up over
sanctions related to human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
South Korea's benchmark closed lower for a third consecutive
day, while Malaysia declined 0.7%.
The Singapore bourse .STI was flat, with investors
shrugging off data which showed the city-state's February main
price gauge turned positive for the first time in a year,
fuelled by an increase in services costs and higher food
inflation. Most regional currencies weakened as the U.S. dollar
steadied ahead of a Congressional testimony by U.S. Federal
Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen
later in the day.
The Malaysian ringgit MYR= and the Philippine peso PHP=
dropped 0.2% each, while South Korean won KRW=KFTC and
Indonesian rupiah IDR= shed 0.1%.
Highlights:
** Thailand's 10-year government bond yields are down 5
basis points at 1.72%
** Top losers on FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kl Index .KLSE
include Genting Bhd GENT.KL ; Genting Malaysia Bhd GENM.KL ;
Supermax Corporation Bhd SUPM.KL
** Shares in Singapore's CapitaLand surge on restructuring
plan Asia stock indexes and
currencies at 0646 GMT
COUNTRY FX RIC FX FX INDEX STOCKS STOCKS
DAILY YTD % DAILY YTD %
% %
Japan JPY= +0.07 -5.07 .N225 -0.61 5.65
China