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S. Korean stocks top weekly gainer

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Taiwan equities set to rise for sixth week

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Asia FX range bound

By Rishav Chatterjee

Oct 3 (Reuters) - Taiwan stocks scaled fresh peaks on

Friday, capping a week in which most emerging Asian markets

notched gains as investors shrugged off U.S. government shutdown

fears and leaned into bets on a near-term Federal Reserve rate

cut.

The MSCI EM Asia Index eased slightly on the

day but remained on track for a weekly rise of 3.8%, set for its

biggest weekly increase since September 12.

A similar gauge, the MSCI Asia-Pacific index

touched a record high and was set to advance 3.5% for the week.

Trading was muted on Friday, but regional stocks wrapped up

a strong week of risk appetite, lifted by upbeat local headlines

and renewed enthusiasm around artificial intelligence.

Emerging-market equities are still trading at a discount to

developed peers, at 12.4 times forward earnings - close to their

25-year average, said Charu Chanana, chief investment

strategist at Saxo.

With their share of global assets under management slipping

to 5% from 8% in 2017, the asset class remains under-owned and

could gain if investors rotate out of recent winners into

overlooked markets, she added.

Taiwan's benchmark climbed more than 1.3%, rising to

a record for a second day. The index is on track for its sixth

weekly gain, a run last seen in early 2024, powered by surging

demand for AI-linked semiconductor stocks.

South Korea's Kospi was closed on Friday, but was up

4.8% for the week as of Thursday.

Philippine and Indonesian shares rose 0.3%

each, while Malaysia slipped modestly but was still set

to end the week in positive territory. Manila equities were on

course to rise 0.5% for the week.

"Emerging markets are enjoying a structural and cyclical

tailwind, with earnings momentum and sector leadership in their

favor. But investors should remain alert to macro headwinds such

as tariffs and dollar swings that could test EM resilience into

year-end," added Chanana.

Trading in Asian currencies remained tepid on the day as the

dollar gained some momentum and traders expressed some caution

while assessing the impact of the U.S. government shutdown.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback

against a basket of currencies, fell most days this week and was

on track for a weekly drop of 0.3%.

In emerging Asia, the Indonesian rupiah and Malaysian

ringgit edged down about 0.2% while the Philippine peso

gained 0.2%. The Taiwan dollar and Thai baht

were flat while Singapore's currency was down

0.1%.

HIGHLIGHTS:

** Indonesian 10-year benchmark flat at 6.334%

** Philippines ends quake rescue efforts, priority now on

helping 20,000 displaced

Asia stock indexes

and currencies at

0406 GMT

COUNTRY FX RIC FX DAILY FX YTD % INDEX STOCKS STOCKS

% DAILY YTD %

%

Japan -0.23 +6.51 1.50 16.04

China India -0.07 -3.54 -0.16 4.87

Indonesi -0.12 -3.07 0.28 14.32

a

Malaysia -0.21 +6.08 -0.11 -0.38

Philippi +0.20 +0.26 0.28 -7.23

nes

S.Korea Singapor -0.05 +5.90 0.21 16.29

e

Taiwan +0.05 +7.83 0.86 15.50

Thailand +0.03 +5.78 0.37 -7.66