- S.Korean won leads gains among currencies
- S. Korea, Philippine equities lead
- Singapore stocks down on record COVID-19 cases
Feb 16 (Reuters) - South Korea and Philippine shares led gains among Asian shares on Wednesday as easing geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine lifted sentiment for riskier assets.
Asian currencies were largely mixed, though the South Korean won firmed slightly .
Philippine shares jumped as much as 1.6% in their best session in two weeks, while South Korea's KOSPI and the Taiwanese benchmark each gained more than 1.5%.
Investors globally breathed relief late on Tuesday after Russia indicated it was returning some troops to base from exercises, easing geopolitical tensions over a potential war in Ukraine.
Attention is now turned towards the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting minutes to be released later in the global day for any potential clues on the pace of U.S. interest rate hikes.
U.S. producer price inflation surged in January at twice the expected rate, reinforcing expectations that the Fed will aggressively hike rates. Markets have already priced in a 50 basis point hike in March.
"While the higher-than-expected U.S. PPI was shrugged off by markets which have their focus on the easing geopolitical tensions, the Fed minutes release today will provide the next test for markets, which will be clearly set to carry a hawkish bias," analysts from IG Group said in a research note.
Elsewhere, the South Korean won rose as much as 0.2% after the East Asian nation reported a decrease in its unemployment rate, while the Indonesian rupiah and the Philippine peso edged higher.
However, the Malaysian ringgit was weighed down by fall in Brent crude prices, slipping about 0.1%. Malaysia is one of the world's largest exporters of liquefied natural gas.
Elsewhere in share markets, the Chinese benchmark gained about 0.7% as Asia's largest economy's factory-gate inflation cooled more than expected in January, and was its slowest rate since July, which could point to further policy easing by the nation's central bank.
The Singapore market was the only laggard, falling as much as 0.3%, as the island state reported a single-day record high in COVID-19 cases on Tuesday.
Markets in Thailand, were closed on account of a public holiday.
HIGHLIGHTS:
** Indonesia's benchmark 10-year yield edges down to 6.509%
** Top gainers in South Korea's benchmark include chip giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix gaining 0.95% and 3.54% respectively
** Thailand approves incentives to promote EV shift
|
Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0331 GMT |
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|
COUNTRY |
FX RIC |
FX DAILY % |
FX YTD % |
INDEX |
STOCKS DAILY % |
STOCKS YTD % |
|
Japan |
-0.06 |
-0.53 |
(.N225) |
+2.1 |
-4.7 |
|
|
China |
-0.03 |
+0.22 |
(.SSEC) |
0.73 |
-4.63 |
|
|
India |
+0.00 |
-1.33 |
(.NSEI) |
0.00 |
-0.01 |
|
|
Indonesia |
+0.07 |
-0.28 |
(.JKSE) |
0.53 |
3.98 |
|
|
Malaysia |
-0.06 |
-0.55 |
(.KLSE) |
-0.08 |
1.97 |
|
|
Philippines |
+0.04 |
-0.58 |
(.PSI) |
1.45 |
4.11 |
|
|
S.Korea |
+0.26 |
-0.66 |
(.KS11) |
1.67 |
-8.61 |
|
|
Singapore |
-0.07 |
+0.26 |
(.STI) |
-0.07 |
9.46 |
|
|
Taiwan |
+0.11 |
-0.61 |
(.TWII) |
1.39 |
-0.10 |
|
|
Thailand |
0.00 |
+3.25 |
(.SETI) |
0.00 |
2.64 |
Reporting by Archishma Iyer; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore
Source: Reuters