(Repeats for Southeast Asia and Singapore)
* Graphic: World FX rates https://tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E
* Taiwan stocks on track for worst week in over a year
* Singapore stocks down 0.3%, dollar falls 0.21%
* Philippine shares down 1.9%
By Soumyajit Saha
May 14 (Reuters) - Philippine stocks shed 2% on Friday as
investors continued to worry about lack of growth despite easing
of restrictions there, while Taiwan stocks tracked gains in Asia
after the island's premier reassured that it was prepared to
fight the pandemic.
Most Asian equities came back to life after a turbulent
week, with China .SSEC , South Korean shares .KS11 and India
.NSEI stocks firming between 0.2% to 1.2%.
However, Manila shares .PSI hit a six-month low as
COVID-19 restrictions were pulled back in some regions even as
daily cases continued to average around 6,700 in May.
Philippines has the second-highest number of cases and
deaths in Southeast Asia.
"Despite the general community quarantine relaxation, it
still seems restrictive in terms of movement", said Astro del
Castillo, managing director at First Grade Finance in Manila.
Lack of good news about the economy and on COVID-19 is
keeping investors cautious, he added.
Markets were generally buoyed by Wall Street's strong finish
overnight as reassurances from Federal Reserve officials about
the transitory nature of surging inflation soothed nerves.
"Overall, the negative feedback loop seen in the risk assets
and global equities triggered by the heightened risk of global
inflationary pressure seems to have subsided," Kelvin Wong, a
market analyst with CMC Markets wrote.
Taiwan shares .TWII surged 1.2% and snapped four sessions
of losses after Premier Su Tseng-chang said the COVID-19 alert
level would not be raised and that it had more resources to
fight the pandemic. However, the index is slated to lose over 8% for the week -
its worst performance in over a year - as an unexpected spike in
cases forced authorities to tighten curbs in public places.
Singapore shares .STI fell 0.3%, dragged by heavyweight
Singapore Telecommunications Ltd STEL.SI after flagged a full
year loss. Singapore's dollar SGD= eased 0.2%, while the Philippine
peso PHP= and Taiwanese dollar TWD=TP were little changed
against a fluctuating dollar, which had strengthened on higher
Treasury yields.
Markets in Malaysia and Indonesia were closed for a public
holiday.
HIGHLIGHTS
** Thai central bank to announce new measures to help
households and small businesses ** India's COVID-19 cases cross 24 million
** Indonesian 10-year benchmark yields are down about 0.9
basis points at 6.405%
Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0451 GMT
COUNTRY FX RIC FX DAILY % FX YTD % INDEX STOCKS DAILY % STOCKS YTD
%
Japan JPY= -0.05 -5.73 .N225 2.22 2.23
China CNY=CFXS +0.15 +1.30 .SSEC 1.21 -0.05
India INR=IN +0.04 -0.44 .NSEI 0.18 5.30
Philippines PHP= +0.04 +0.44 .PSI -1.86 -14.28
S.Korea KRW=KFTC -0.07 -3.88 .KS11 0.95 9.68
Singapore SGD= -0.19 -1.12 .STI -0.28 9.52
Taiwan TWD=TP +0.08 +1.82 .TWII 0.62 7.02
Thailand THB=TH +0.00 -4.43 .SETI -0.17 6.64