EMERGING MARKETS-Philippine shares bounce back; India weighs loan moratorium ruling

  • 3/23/2021
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* Graphic: World FX rates tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E * Philippine shares recovers after 2 days of losses * S. Korea shares falls for third straight day * India"s top court rules against extension of loan moratoriums March 23 (Reuters) - Philippine shares bounced back on Tuesday after two days of losses, while India reversed early gains as investors jostled with a ruling by the country"s top court on the extension of loan moratorium. Indian shares, which had risen as much as 0.9% during the day, were trading flat by 0625 GMT as the Supreme Court refused to extend the loan moratorium beyond the six-month period which ended on Aug. 31. Beaten-down bank stocks initially jumped after the ruling but pared gains as the court said borrowers cannot be charged any form of additional interest for non-payment during the moratorium period. The Philippine benchmark, which shed nearly 4% in the past two sessions, climbed 0.8% boosted by real estate firms , which gained 2%. Real estate firm Megaworld Corp led gains on the benchmark, up 3.9%, and property developer SM Prime Holdings added over 2%. Investors were reportedly encouraged by a repeated pushback from Philippine authorities about hard lockdowns, said ING economist Nicholas Mapa. Philippine authorities prefer smaller, targeted restrictions over a hard lockdown to support the economy, President Rodrigo Duterte said in a live-streamed briefing on Monday evening, according to Bloomberg here. Weighing on sentiment, Chinese markets shed over 1% as tensions between Beijing and Western countries heated up over sanctions related to human rights abuses in Xinjiang. South Korea"s benchmark closed lower for a third consecutive day, while Malaysia declined 0.7%. The Singapore bourse was flat, with investors shrugging off data which showed the city-state"s February main price gauge turned positive for the first time in a year, fuelled by an increase in services costs and higher food inflation. Most regional currencies weakened as the U.S. dollar steadied ahead of a Congressional testimony by U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen later in the day. The Malaysian ringgit and the Philippine peso dropped 0.2% each, while South Korean won and Indonesian rupiah shed 0.1%. Highlights: ** Thailand"s 10-year government bond yields are down 5 basis points at 1.72% ** Top losers on FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kl Index include Genting Bhd; Genting Malaysia Bhd; Supermax Corporation Bhd ** Shares in Singapore"s CapitaLand surge on restructuring plan Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0646 GMT COUNTRY FX RIC FX FX INDEX STOCKS STOCKS DAILY YTD % DAILY YTD % % % Japan +0.07 -5.07 -0.61 5.65 China India +0.10 +1.07 0.07 5.47 Indones -0.07 -2.57 -0.39 4.98 ia Malaysi -0.24 -2.47 -0.70 -1.34 a Philipp -0.21 -1.23 0.80 -9.71 ines S.Korea Singapo -0.10 -1.54 0.05 10.05 re Taiwan -0.02 -0.06 -0.07 9.81 Thailan -0.06 -3.14 0.07 8.15 d (Reporting by Shruti Sonal in Bengaluru; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel)

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