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South Korea and Taiwan stocks hit record highs

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ASEAN equities rise, led by Singapore banks

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Indonesia stocks surge ahead of expected rate cut

By Sameer Manekar

Oct 21 (Reuters) - Equities in South Korea and Taiwan

set new records on Tuesday as optimism about Seoul's trade deal

with the United States and enthusiasm for AI-related investments

kept the appetite for risk assets running hot.

Asian equities gained fresh traction this week on hopes of

easing U.S.-China trade tensions and a robust kick-off to the

U.S. corporate earnings season.

Broadly, the Federal Reserve's rate-cutting cycle and

investor enthusiasm around artificial intelligence have

continued to fuel the rally in emerging market assets.

"The 'buy almost everything' trade has been reinvigorated as

concerns about U.S. regional banks, credit, and funding markets

continue to fade into the rear-view mirror," said Chris Weston,

head of research at Pepperstone.

"Trump continues to signal optimism around trade

negotiations with China and markets are reducing expectations of

the 100% additional tariffs on Chinese imports going into effect

on November 1."

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he expects to

reach a fair trade deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping and

downplayed risks of a clash over the issue of Taiwan, even as

his top trade negotiator accused Beijing of engaging in

"economic coercion."

The MSCI gauge of emerging market equities

jumped more than a percentage point to its highest level since

late February 2021. A gauge tracking ASEAN equities

, dominated by Singapore's banks, jumped 1%.

South Korea's KOSPI index advanced for a fifth

consecutive session on hopes that the East Asian country will

secure a trade deal with the United States by the time of the

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit later this

month.

Hyundai Motor leapt 7.7%, while sister automaker

Kia Corp 000270.KS surged 4.28%. Chipmaker Samsung Electronics

scaled a new record high while SK Hynix ( HXSCF )

touched a 25-year high.

Taiwan's benchmark index also set a new record high

but stopped a few points shy of breaching the 28,000-level for

the first time. Its flagship contract chipmaker, TSMC,

also scaled a new lifetime high, its eighth this month.

Singapore's FTSE Straits Times index advanced 1.7%,

marking its strongest single-session gain in nearly three weeks.

Top lenders DBS Group, OCBC, and United

Overseas Bank advanced up to 1.7%.

Indonesia's stocks jumped 1.4% to a one-week high,

driven by Bank Central Asia , which advanced about 5%

after the country's top lender by market value reported healthy

growth in total loans and profits for the first nine months of

the year.

The rush into equities precedes Bank Indonesia's monetary

policy decision tomorrow, where the central bank is widely

expected to cut its key interest rate at its fourth consecutive

meeting, a Reuters poll showed.

The rally also comes as the central bank shifts its priority

towards growth despite continued weakness in the rupiah and

rising concerns about the central bank's independence. That

reflects in the Jakarta Composite index's near 7% gain since the

reputed finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati was ousted early

last month.

Elsewhere in Southeast Asia, shares in Thailand and

Malaysia rose up to 0.8%, while stocks in the

Philippines rose up to 0.8%.

Vietnam's benchmark stock index nursed losses after

plunging more than 5% on Monday after state media reported on

alleged irregularities in the use of corporate bond proceeds.

Currencies in the region were largely unchanged, with

Taiwan's dollar edging higher, while Indonesia's rupiah

ticked lower.

Financial markets in India were closed for

a public holiday.

HIGHLIGHTS:

** Yield on Indonesia's 10-year bonds at 5.956%

** Yield Indonesia's 10-year bonds fell below 6% last week

for the first time since Dec 2020

** Philippines' Maynilad Water seeks to raise up to $591

million in IPO

** Thai central bank will work to ensure economic stability,

governor says

** Japan LDP's Takaichi to become Prime Minister after

winning lower house vote

Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0425 GMT

COUNTRY FX RIC FX DAILY FX YTD INDEX STOCKS STOCKS

% % DAILY YTD %

%

Japan -0.21 +4.06 0.76 24.22

China India +0.00 -2.63 -100.0 -100.0

0 0

Indones -0.12 -3.01 1.18 15.60

ia

Malaysi +0.00 +5.78 0.48 -1.67

a

Philipp -0.05 -0.18 0.23 -6.60

ines

S.Korea Singapo -0.07 +5.46 1.39 15.88

re

Taiwan +0.14 +7.10 0.34 20.61

Thailan -0.15 +5.25 0.47 -7.83

d