* Thai baht inches up ahead of central bank meeting
* Thailand, Indonesia up over 1%
* Top Glove slides 10%, weighs on Malaysian shares
Nov 17 (Reuters) - Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore climbed
around 1% on Tuesday, leading more muted gains across Asian
stock markets on promising news of another COVID-19 vaccine as
the pandemic spreads and threatens to wreck the region's
recovery.
Moderna MRNA.O said its experimental vaccine was 94.5%
effective in preventing COVID-19 infection, becoming the second
U.S. company after Pfizer PFE.N last week to report promising
results in trials. "We remain cautious of the ever increasing cases of COVID-19
even as vaccine hopes dominate market sentiments for now,"
Maybank analysts wrote in a note.
Stocks in Jakarta .JKSE were at their highest since March,
and Singapore .STI since mid-June. The stock markets of both
countries' have seen strong gains so far in November on Joe
Biden's U.S. presidential election win and vaccine developments.
In Malaysia, sharp losses by Top Glove Corp TPGC.KL held
back broader gains .KLSE . The glove maker fell 10% after
tighter movement curbs in an area where its dormitories are
located will impact about 15% of its total factory workforce.
Currencies in the region made broad gains against the U.S.
dollar, as appetite for the greenback was hindered by some U.S.
states stepping up restrictions to counter the spread of the
virus, and by the lack of cooperation Biden has received from
the Trump administration for a transition of government. FRX/
The Thai baht THB=TH rose 0.3% ahead of Wednesday's
central bank meeting. Economists polled by Reuters expect the
Bank of Thailand to keep its policy rate at a record low.
The Indonesian rupiah IDR= was up 0.4%, with economists
expecting the country's central bank to keep rates unchanged as
well, underpinning the appeal of its high-yielding local bond
market. The yield on its benchmark 10-year bonds ID10YT=RR fell
6.7 basis points to 6.214%.
HIGHLIGHTS:
** Singapore shares up over 14% so far in November, and
Indonesia over 8%
** Singapore Airlines Ltd SIAL.SI led gains in the
city-state
Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0643 GMT
COUNTRY FX RIC FX FX INDEX STOCKS STOCKS
DAILY % YTD % DAILY % YTD %
Japan JPY= +0.06 +3.93 .N225 0.42 9.97
China CNY=CFXS +0.27 +6.06 .SSEC -0.64 9.03
India INR=IN +0.07 -4.25 .NSEI 0.37 5.41
Indonesia IDR= +0.43 -1.14 .JKSE 1.03 -11.88
Malaysia MYR= +0.26 -0.38 .KLSE 0.28 0.97
Philippines PHP= -0.17 +4.97 .PSI 0.59 -10.95
S.Korea KRW=KFTC +0.24 +4.50 .KS11 -0.15 15.54
Singapore SGD= +0.07 +0.00 .STI 0.91 -13.95
Taiwan TWD=TP +1.09 +5.64 .TWII 0.30 13.30
Thailand THB=TH +0.30 -0.83 .SETI 1.09 -13.55