EMERGING MARKETS-Indian shares, rupee struggle amid record virus spike; other markets recover

  • 4/22/2021
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* Philippines c.bank sees 2021 economic growth of 6%-7% * India reports biggest ever rise in new coronavirus infections * Thai 10-yr bond yields down 4 bps to lowest since March 11 By Harish Sridharan April 22 (Reuters) - Indian stocks oscillated on Thursday, struggling to track gains notched across broader Asia, as the nation posted the biggest ever daily rise in new coronavirus infections anywhere in the world since the pandemic began. Sentiment across Asia recovered and equities rebounded, with MSCI"s broadest index of Asia-Pacific equities ex-Japan rising 0.5%. Philippines was the exception, where expected economic impacts of a recent lockdown weighed. Indian stocks were flat after earlier trading lower, while the rupee was off 0.1% against the dollar, as the country"s health infrastructure struggles to cope with an unrelenting surge in cases amid sluggish vaccine rollouts. "Unless we see the domestic scenario in India improving, global factors will have less of an impact. Its purely because of the domestic factors that we are falling," said Gaurang Somaiya, FX analyst at Motilal Oswal Financial Services. A Reuters poll found that investors have turned bullish on most Asian currencies except the rupee, where short bets were at their highest in a year despite broad dollar weakness. "The unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases in India can linger for a while. Investors with lower tolerance for volatility should consider tactically downgrading this bourse to neutral in an EM equity basket for a couple of months," analysts at BCA Research warned. Equities in Singapore gained as much as 1% and eyed its best session in over two weeks, while Kuala Lumpur was on course for its best day in nearly two weeks. The U.S. dollar held near multi-week lows, aiding regional currencies firm across the board. The Thai baht and the Malaysian ringgit led gains as they strengthened 0.2% and 0.3%, respectively. Stocks in Manila weakened 0.4%, bucking the trend, while the peso underperformed its peers to trade marginally lower. Philippines" central bank governor said on Wednesday two-week lockdown of the capital Manila earlier this month will likely slow full-year economic growth to 6%-7%, compared with its earlier forecast of 6.5%-7.5%. Thailand"s benchmark 10-year bond yields slipped 4 basis points to 1.68%, their lowest since March 11. The tourism-reliant nation is grappling with a third COVID-19 wave and a highly contagious variant, amid a shortage of vaccines. The Thai economy could lose 100 billion baht ($3.19 billion) a month, mainly in the service sector, a university forecast on Thursday. HIGHLIGHTS ** Thailand"s 10-year government bond yields are down 4 basis points at 1.68% ** In the Philippines, top index loser are Aboitiz Power Corp, down 4.9 ** The biggest laggards in the NSE index in India were Shree Cement Ltd and Titan Company Ltd Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0655 GMT COUNTRY FX RIC FX FX INDEX STOCKS STOCK DAILY YTD % DAILY S YTD % % % Japan +0.10 -4.35 #VALUE #VALU ! E! China India -0.10 -2.52 0.08 2.33 Indones -0.02 -3.36 0.01 0.25 ia Malaysi +0.27 -2.14 0.57 -1.32 a Philipp -0.02 -0.79 -0.37 -10.1 ines 4 S.Korea Singapo +0.14 -0.45 0.92 11.96 re Taiwan +0.13 +1.31 -0.61 16.05 Thailan +0.16 -4.28 -0.09 8.91 d

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