* Jakarta stocks hit fresh highs * Taiwan c.bank says may not cut rates before June * South Korea shares rise By Archishma Iyer March 14 (Reuters) - Most Asian currencies were little changed on Thursday as traders awaited fresh cues on the interest rate outlook globally, while the Indonesian stock market hit another record high. Shares in Southeast Asia's largest economy advanced as much as 0.5% to 7,454.45 points, with the Jakarta index poised for its fifth straight daily gain. Continued equity inflows into Indonesia's benchmark indexes and a presidential election victory by Prabowo Subianto, promising policy stability have propped up sentiment. Foreign investors have poured in about $1.1 billion in Indonesian equities in the first two months of the year. The MSCI emerging stock market index was marginally down on the day, although it was hovering near a seven-month high. Globally, market participants are currently awaiting a slew of U.S. economic data including retail sales - a key measure of consumption - later on Thursday. This come ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting next week, where focus will be on how soon policymakers could start easing interest rates. Markets are currently pricing in a 65% chance of a rate cut in June, down from 71% earlier in the week, after a hotter-than-expected U.S. CPI gently pushed back rate cut bets, according to the CME FEdWatch Tool. "The path to a gradually weaker USD could be bumpy and we view this episode as one of the bumps and opportunity to sell USD on rally," Maybank analysts said in a note. The dollar index, which measures the strength of the greenback against six major currencies, was at 102.88 at 0435 GMT. In Asia, the South Korean won slipped 0.3%, while other currencies such as the Indonesian rupiah, Malaysian ringgit and the Thai baht traded flat. The Taiwan dollar slipped marginally. The country's central bank governor said that it may not cut interest rates before June as it could be necessary to raise the 2024 inflation forecast considering rising inflation. Among Asian equity markets, Bangkok rose about 0.4%, even as Taipei and Manila fell by 0.2% and 0.1% respectively. Seoul stocks advanced as much as 0.7% to hit their highest since April 2022, after the Asian trade bellwether said it would speed up the preparation of follow-up measures to the government's corporate reform plan. Shares in Singapore rose 0.6%, even as the country's largest telecom provider Singapore Telecommunications fell as much as 2%, giving up some of Wednesday's late gains after reports that it was in advanced negotiations to sell a significant stake in Australian telco Optus to Canada's Brookfield Asset Management. Elsewhere, India is set to announce its wholesale price inflation data, which is set to rise by 0.25% on an annual basis for February, according to a Reuters poll. HIGHLIGHTS: ** Indonesia benchmark 10-year yield rises to 6.648% ** BOJ to go slow in hiking rates after ending negative rates, says ex-c.bank executive ** Bank of Korea cautious in final stage of inflation fight Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0435 GMT COUNTRY FX RIC FX FX INDEX STOCKS STOCKS DAILY YTD % DAILY % YTD % % Japan -0.11 -4.63 0.00 15.58 China -0.07 -1.31 0.01 2.33 India -0.00 +0.42 -0.04 1.18 Indonesia -0.06 -1.19 0.13 2.17 Malaysia +0.00 -2.05 0.03 5.77 Philippines -0.05 -0.01 -0.14 7.84 S.Korea -0.26 -2.27 0.57 2.02 Singapore -0.07 -1.04 0.62 -1.85 Taiwan -0.14 -2.44 -0.23 10.89 Thailand -0.07 -4.19 0.38 -1.84 (Reporting by Archishma Iyer in Bengaluru; Editing by Jamie Freed)
Singapore Telecommunications Limited
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Z74
SG1T75931496
Integrated Telecommunications Services
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5-day change | 1st Jan Change | ||
2.41 SGD | -0.41% | +2.55% | -2.82% |
Apr. 19 | Singtel Partners with Vonage to Accelerate Global Enterprise and Telco Innovation and Digital Transformation | CI |
Apr. 04 | Brookfield and Singtel Reportedly End Optus Sale Talks | CI |
Stocks mentioned in the article
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Capi.
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2,686 PTS | +0.86% | +0.34% | - | ||
2.41 SGD | -0.41% | +2.55% | 29.19B | ||
EPS Revisions
1st Jan change | Capi. | |
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-2.82% | 29.19B | |
+9.65% | 199B | |
+5.25% | 167B | |
+0.46% | 116B | |
-2.38% | 89.84B | |
+17.65% | 72.93B | |
+2.80% | 58.42B | |
-5.07% | 50.97B | |
-13.54% | 40.2B | |
-34.49% | 36.67B |
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