Updates for afternoon trade
FTSE delays index review for Indonesia
Thailand shares touch more than 1-year high
Asian currencies largely subdued; ringgit up 0.2%
By Sneha Kumar
Feb 10 (Reuters) - Thailand's benchmark hit a 14-month high on Tuesday on the prospect of political stability following the weekend election, while Indonesian stocks advanced for the second consecutive session.
Thailand's SET Index .SETI climbed as much as 1% to its strongest level since mid-December 2024, and advanced in the two days since the election, where Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul's Bhumjaithai Party clinched a stronger-than-expected victory, cementing hopes of political stability and economic reforms.
"Beyond the knee-jerk rally on political clarity, the durability of the recovery depends on execution under constrained policy space," said Nattanont Arunyakananda, investment manager of Thai equities at Aberdeen.
"The medium-term growth outlook remains challenging due to limited fiscal headroom, which makes broad-based consumption handouts harder to sustain and pushes policy towards more targeted support."
Elsewhere, Indonesia's Jakarta Composite Index .JKSE added 0.7% after FTSE Russell decided to postpone a scheduled review for Indonesia, a move that analysts said was broadly expected.
The index provider flagged concerns similar to those raised by MSCI about how difficult it is to determine the levels of free-floating, or freely tradable, stock.
Last month, MSCI had warned of a potential downgrade to frontier-market status, citing transparency concerns, while Moody's lowered the country's credit rating outlook last week.
In Singapore, shares .STI were flat despite the trade ministry raising the country's growth forecast for this year to a range of 2% to 4% after a stronger-than-expected finish to 2025.
The Philippine benchmark .PSI rose to a one-month high in anticipation of monetary policy easing at Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas' next decision on February 19.
Shares have climbed around 2% since a data point late January showed that growth had slumped to its lowest level in almost five years in the final quarter of 2025, with the full-year pace below the government's target.
Elsewhere, a 3.6% rise in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company 2330.TW propelled the broader benchmark .TWII 2.1% higher.
South Korean stock gauge .KS11 was flat but kept its crown as the region's standout, with a 25.8% gain so far this year. Trailing it are Taiwan and Thailand benchmarks, which were up 14.2% and 11.5%, respectively.
Among currencies, the Malaysian ringgit MYR= was the region's biggest gainer with a rise of 0.2%.
The Singapore dollar SGD=, the Indonesian rupiah IDR=, and the Philippine peso PHP= were largely unchanged against a slightly weaker U.S. dollar index =USD.
Markets are on the lookout for a slew of U.S. economic reports due this week, including the delayed payrolls data.
HIGHLIGHTS:
** Yield on Indonesia's 10-year benchmark bonds ID10YT=RR at 6.464%
** EU proposes sanctions on Georgian, Indonesian ports for handling Russian oil
** Philippine lawmakers set to vote on Marcos impeachment
Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0726 GMT | ||||||
COUNTRY | FX RIC | FX DAILY % | FX YTD % | INDEX | STOCKS DAILY % | STOCKS YTD % |
Japan | JPY= | +0.28 | +0.78 | .N225 | 2.28 | 14.52 |
China | CNY=CFXS | +0.12 | +1.09 | .SSEC | 0.13 | 4.02 |
India | INR=IN | +0.19 | -0.79 | .NSEI | 0.34 | -0.66 |
Indonesia | IDR= | 0.00 | -0.74 | .JKSE | 0.70 | -6.47 |
Malaysia | MYR= | +0.18 | +3.34 | .KLSE | -0.24 | 3.99 |
Philippines | PHP= | +0.02 | +0.56 | .PSI | 1.98 | 6.97 |
S.Korea | KRW=KFTC | -0.21 | -1.46 | .KS11 | 0.07 | 25.81 |
Singapore | SGD= | -0.02 | +1.60 | .STI | -0.05 | 6.71 |
Taiwan | TWD=TP | -0.01 | -0.40 | .TWII | 2.06 | 14.19 |
Thailand | THB=TH | -0.32 | +0.83 | .SETI | 0.27 | 11.51 |
($1 = 31.1300 baht)
(Reporting by Sneha Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Stephen Coates and Harikrishnan Nair)
((Sneha.kumar@thomsonreuters.com))