EMERGING MARKETS-Stocks rally with eyes on Fed, peso slips

* Graphic: World FX rates http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
* Graphic: Foreign flows into Asian stocks https://tmsnrt.rs/3f2vwbA
* S. Korean stocks enjoy best day since June 16
* Indonesia stocks lag peers
* Thailand markets shut for holiday

By Shashwat Awasthi
July 28 (Reuters) - Stock markets gained across Asia on Tuesday as hopes for a dovish
message from the U.S. Federal Reserve this week outweighed growing concerns about how the
Philippines and other regional economies are dealing with renewed coronavirus outbreaks.
In a morning session which saw some recovery for the U.S. dollar after days of concern over
events in the United States and a diplomatic spat with China, currencies across the region's
emerging markets were mixed and even the bigger moves limited to 0.1-0.2% shifts.
Stock markets in India .NSEI , Malaysia .KLSE and South Korea .KS11 all saw strong
gains, however, and the Philippines .PSI recovered from an initial crash following President
Rodrigo Duterte's State of the Nation speech to rise almost 1%.
Jeffrey Halley, market analyst at trading platform OANDA, said Asian stocks would remain
supported ahead of the Fed's meeting on Wednesday.
"Equity markets should continue to perform well with only headline risk, and not data risk,
to cause a sudden change in the narrative," he said.
In the address on Monday night, Duterte defended his approach to fighting the pandemic even
as new cases continue to climb, while threatening to close or have the government take over
telecom firms that he accused of "lousy" services. The peso PHP= , which has overlooked rising local infections and fresh U.S.-China tensions
and strengthened for the last six weeks, eased as much as 0.3% before steadying.
"Amidst the uncertainties brought about by the rising (virus) cases, the government has yet
to provide sufficient details on the fiscal stimulus and recovery roadmap," said Jennifer Mae V.
Lomboy, a fund manager at First Metro Asset Management, predicting more losses as corporate
earnings flow in.
Second-quarter gross domestic product data due next week is also expected to show a steep
fall. Indonesian stocks .JKSE underperformed, however, edging 0.2% lower as the country's total
number of coronavirus cases topped 100,000. Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0706 GMT
COUNTRY FX RIC FX DAILY % FX YTD % INDEX STOCKS DAILY % STOCKS YTD %
Japan JPY= -0.12 +2.95 .N225 -0.26 -4.22
China CNY=CFXS -0.02 -0.52 .SSEC 0.54 5.65
India INR=IN +0.12 -4.50 .NSEI 0.92 -7.68
Indonesia IDR= +0.07 -4.14 .JKSE -0.24 -18.97
Malaysia MYR= +0.06 -3.73 .KLSE 0.71 0.88
Philippines PHP= -0.12 +2.99 .PSI 1.13 -24.16
S.Korea KRW=KFTC -0.07 -3.38 .KS11 1.76 2.70
Singapore SGD= -0.01 -2.49 .STI 0.36 -19.79
Taiwan TWD=TP +0.81 +2.86 .TWII -0.01 4.91
Thailand THB=TH 0.00 -5.59 .SETI 0.00 -15.12