* Indonesian rupiah at near 8-mth high
* Indonesia's 10-yr bond yields at 3-wk lows
* Equities in Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines rise
By Sameer Manekar
Oct 15 (Reuters) - South Korea's won and Indonesian rupiah
gained among mixed Asian currencies on Friday, with the rupiah
scaling a near eight-month high supported by the recent surge in
energy prices as well as the reopening of its holiday island of
Bali to foreign tourists.
Indonesia, Southeast Asia's biggest economy and a major
exporter of commodities including thermal coal, is benefiting
from a global energy crunch that is pushing coal prices to
record levels due to high demand and supply disruptions.
The rupiah is among the best performing currencies in
the region, with only a marginal drop so far this year. On
Friday, it appreciated 0.3% to scale its highest level since
late-February, and was set to add 1% over the week, its best
since early September.
"Despite Bali's reopening to visitors from 19 low-risk
countries, demand could be the bottle-neck in the short-term.
While we remain cautiously optimistic on rupiah sentiments, its
recovery path is likely to remain choppy," analysts at Maybank
said in a note.
The benchmark 10-year benchmark yields in Indonesia
slipped 8.7 basis points to 6.207%, the lowest since
September 24, tracking the global flattening of bond yields.
Indonesia has some of the highest-yielding debt in emerging
markets.
Shorter-term U.S. yields have risen over the past two days
while longer-dated yields have dipped, which has served to
flatten the yield curve, indicating the market is anticipating a
rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Investors will also be waiting for Bank of Indonesia's
policy meeting next week where the central bank is expected to
hold interest rates steady to boost economic recovery, a Reuters
poll showed.
Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea's won appreciated
0.4% to hit an over two-week high, while equities advanced more
than a percent to scale a two-week high.
The Bank of Korea governor said it may be possible for the
central bank to raise base interest rates at its next review in
late November. Earlier this week the central bank kept the rates
steady after it hiked its policy rate in August.
Among other currencies, the Philippine peso added
0.2%, while the Thai baht and Malaysian ringgit
slipped marginally.
Equities in the region were largely positive, supported by
the easing of curbs in Southeast Asian countries like Indonesia,
Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Shares in the Philippines, Singapore, and
Thailand were up 0.6% each, with stocks in Manila
scaling a nine-month high and Singapore stocks touching an over
two-month high.
Markets in India, were closed for a
holiday.
HIGHLIGHTS:
** U.S. 10-year benchmark yields at 1.5299%, down 8.19 basis
points this week
** U.S. 2-year benchmark yields at 0.3621%, up 4.23 basis
points this week
** Indonesia trade surplus shrinks less than expected in
September -
Asia stock indexes and
currencies at 0348 GMT
COUNTRY FX RIC FX FX INDE STOCK STOCK
DAILY YTD X S S YTD
% % DAILY %
%
Japan -0.23 -9.3 <.N2 1.29 5.38
8 25>
China <CNY=CFX +0.06 +1.4 <.SS 0.29 2.75
S> 3 EC>
Indones +0.18 -0.3 <.JK -0.62 10.14
ia 5 SE>
Malaysi -0.08 -3.2 <.KL 0.15 -1.99
a 7 SE>
Philipp +0.10 -5.2 <.PS 0.42 1.03
ines 5 I>
S.Korea <KRW=KFT +0.38 -8.1 <.KS 0.84 4.88
C> 3 11>
Singapo -0.01 -2.0 <.ST 0.33 11.66
re 2 I>
Taiwan +0.24 +1.5 <.TW 2.18 13.65
9 II>
Thailan -0.12 -9.8 <.SE 0.43 13.71
d 9 TI>
(Reporting by Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Stephen
Coates)
