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South Korea stocks fall for second straight session

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Bank Indonesia decision due later in the day

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Markets await Nvidia ( NVDA ) results

By Roshan Thomas

Nov 19 (Reuters) - Taiwan and South Korean stocks fell

on Wednesday, while currencies were little changed as investors

awaited Nvidia's ( NVDA ) earnings to gauge the next phase of the

AI-driven market rally.

Taiwan stocks shed 0.4% while South Korean shares

swung between gains and losses. The KOSPI was last down

0.5%, a day after tumbling more than 3% and closing below the

key 4,000 level. It dropped over 2.5% earlier in the session.

Losses in major tech stocks weighed, as Samsung Electronics ( SSNLF )

dropped 3.3% and SK Hynix declined 4.2%.

LG Energy Solution eased 3.3%.

The market's focus has shifted to AI-darling Nvidia's ( NVDA )

results later in the day, a key test of sentiment at

the heart of the AI boom that may set the next direction for

markets.

Nvidia ( NVDA ), which supplies graphics processing units, or GPUs,

behind modern AI systems, has been a key driver of a global

market rally that pushed equities to record highs and lifted

stocks even loosely tied to the AI theme.

"For Nvidia ( NVDA ), this is the most important set of quarterly

results from the company because of the critical juncture that

the artificial intelligence complex happens to find itself in,"

said Kyle Rodda, a senior financial market analyst at

Capital.com.

Elsewhere, equities in Thailand inched 0.2% lower,

while Philippine stocks edged 0.1% higher.

Meanwhile in Indonesia, the central bank is expected to keep

its key rate unchanged later in the day to contain pressure on

the rupiah, as it urges commercial banks to lower lending

rates and evaluates the impact of past monetary policy easing on

the economy.

Bank Indonesia has cut its benchmark rate by 150 basis

points since September last year but the country's banks have

passed on only 15 basis points of that reduction to borrowers

this year.

"The central bank will lean towards a pause due to a weaker

currency and correction in risk assets, whilst pushing for

faster policy transmission," analysts at DBS said in a note.

"In the interim, the central bank is likely to encourage

faster policy transmission and undertake macroprudential

measures to lower the effective lending rate."

Stocks were up 0.6% ahead of the decision, while the

rupiah, the worst performer among its peers, was little changed.

The South Korean won slipped 0.3% against a

steady U.S. dollar index.

The Philippine peso and the Thai baht each

edged 0.1% and 0.2% lower, while the Singapore dollar and

Taiwan dollar were little changed.

HIGHLIGHTS:

** Malaysia's October exports rise 15.7% y/y, above forecast

** BOJ's Ueda to meet finance, economy ministers on Wednesday,

MOF says

** Australian wage growth steady in Q3, supports rate pause view

Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0422 GMT

COUNTRY FX RIC FX DAILY FX YTD INDEX STOCKS STOCKS

% % DAILY YTD %

%

Japan +0.05 +1.13 0.09 22.19

China India +0.11 -3.27 -0.05 9.53

Indones -0.03 -3.88 0.64 18.87

ia

Malaysi +0.34 +7.77 0.36 -1.37

a

Philipp -0.09 -1.31 0.14 -11.70

ines

S.Korea Singapo -0.07 +4.81 -0.03 18.90

re

Taiwan -0.07 +4.93 -0.44 15.65

Thailan -0.20 +5.77 -0.20 -9.48

d