* Travel stocks propel Asian equities higher * Indonesian rupiah at strongest level since June 18 * Philippine economy contracts in Q3 By Anushka Trivedi Nov 10 (Reuters) - Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia led stock market gains in Asia on Tuesday after results from a late-stage COVID-19 vaccine trial fuelled optimism about a global reopening, which would help the region"s tourism- and trade-dependent economies. Other emerging currency and equities also rose as the vaccine news came right after Joe Biden"s presidential election win over the weekend eased U.S. political uncertainty. Overnight, Wall Street benchmarks closed just shy of record highs after drugmaker Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech said that a large-scale trial of their vaccine showed it was more than 90% effective in preventing COVID-19. Airline, cruise ship and hotel operators lifted share markets in most of Asia, with Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia indexes up between 1.5% to 2.9%. "The clearing of the election fog has permitted underlying market fundamentals to come back into focus, resulting in a strong push upwards," Seema Shah, chief strategist at Principal Global Investors said. "The most recent vaccine news suggests "return to normality" should be coming sooner rather than later... all the chips are starting to line up, and market sentiment may be in the early stages of a burst of positive energy." Philippine equities rallied more than 3%, brushing off a steep economic slump in the third quarter and helped by government assurances that the economy would rebound in 2021. Local currency markets also inched higher and the Taiwanese dollar stood out with a 1% rise after the island reported an expectation-beating surge in October exports. Citi said it expected Taiwan"s dollar to continue to strengthen in the medium-term on its regional economic outperformance. The Indonesian rupiah, which has benefited from a surge in bond inflows lately, firmed 0.3% to its highest since June 18. However, among global emerging markets, the Turkish lira fell 2% against the dollar. Global ratings agency S&P expressed concern about Turkey"s sudden replacement of its central bank governor and the departure of its finance minister. HIGHLIGHTS ** Indonesian 10-year benchmark yields are down 3 basis points at 6.234% ** Singapore Airlines soars 20% to near 5-month high ** Malaysia top gainers: Genting Bhd up 15.1% and Genting Malaysia Bhd up 12.3%, while glove makers Top Glove and Hartalega Holdings slumped Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0317 GMT COUNTRY FX RIC FX DAILY % FX YTD % INDEX STOCKS STOCKS YTD DAILY % % Japan +0.49 +3.59 1.08 6.14 China +0.18 +5.25 -0.04 10.57 India +0.00 -3.76 0.00 2.40 Indonesia +0.29 -0.93 1.49 -13.71 Malaysia -0.17 -0.58 1.60 -2.52 Philippine +0.03 +4.97 3.51 -11.45 s S.Korea -0.18 +3.63 -0.10 11.25 Singapore +0.07 -0.14 2.90 -16.68 Taiwan +1.09 +5.59 -0.24 9.16 Thailand +0.44 -1.66 2.53 -16.55