* Graphic: World FX rates tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E
* Singapore budget awaited at 0700 GMT
* S. Korea govt gets vaccine for 23 mln people
* Indonesia rupiah hits 6-wk high
* China, Taiwan markets closed for holiday
By Anushka Trivedi
Feb 16 (Reuters) - The Singapore dollar edged up on Tuesday
ahead of the city-state's 2021 budget, while South Korea's won
and stocks extended their rally on plans to vaccinate the entire
country's population.
The greenback eased as risk appetite firmed on global
vaccination progress, lifting the Malaysian ringgit,
Indonesian rupiah and the Thai baht between 0.1%
to 0.2%.
Singapore's dollar and stocks both firmed
around 0.2% as investors awaited details of the budget which is
expected to be expansionary, but trimmed down compared to last
year, to support still struggling sectors such as tourism.
"Given the fading pandemic economic impact and generally
improving economy, the government is likely to calibrate its
budget support to be more targeted at sectors and individuals
affected by the COVID-19 situation," Standard Chartered analysts
said in a note.
"Markets may be watching if the government announces
further details on borrowing to fund long-term expenditure."
The city-state took on record budget deficit in 2020 to
deliver a massive fiscal stimulus to aid the economy, which on
Monday reported a smaller-than-expected contraction in the
fourth-quarter.
DBS expects officials to trim the 2021 budget deficit to
S$10-S$12 billion from the S$74.2 billion ($56.10 billion)
figure last year.
Meanwhile, the rupiah firmed for second day to hit a
six-week high after Indonesia reported a bigger-than-forecast
trade surplus for January on Monday, a trend analysts expect
will continue and support the currency in the medium-term.
This should pave the way for Bank Indonesia to cut rate by
25 basis points on its meeting on Thursday, OCBC analysts said
in a note.
South Korea's won rallied for fifth day to hit an
over one-month high, while the benchmark stock index KOSPI
jumped as much as 1% in its third session of gains.
Seoul markets cheered the government's arrangement with
Novavax and Pfizer to get vaccines for 23
million more people, which would be enough to cover the country
of about 53 million people.
In line with global markets, positive vaccine developments
kept all Asian equities in the black, while financials powered
India's benchmark to a record high.
China and Taiwan's financial markets were closed for a
holiday.
HIGHLIGHTS
** Indonesian 10-year benchmark yields are up almost 5 basis
points at 6.291%
** Top gainers on the Singapore STI include Wilmar
International Ltd up 1.1% and Mapletree Commercial
Trust up 1%
** In the Philippines, top index gainers are Aboitiz Equity
Ventures Inc up 4.02% and SM Prime Holdings Inc
up 3.4%
Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0427 GMT
COUNTRY FX RIC FX DAILY % FX YTD % INDEX STOCKS DAILY % STOCKS YTD %
Japan -0.25 -2.25 1.75 11.53
India +0.00 +0.52 0.71 10.31
Indonesia +0.04 +0.97 0.28 5.17
Malaysia +0.05 -0.25 0.26 -0.92
Philippines -0.15 -0.00 0.61 -1.93
S.Korea +0.25 -1.14 0.17 9.70
Singapore +0.03 -0.11 0.27 3.36
Thailand +0.07 +0.33 0.20 5.27
($1 = 1.3226 Singapore dollars)
(Reporting by Anushka Trivedi in Bengaluru)
