* China trims 1-yr lending rate, leaves 5-yr unchanged
* Thailand's Q2 GDP grows below forecast
* Rupiah leads losses in the region
By Navya Mittal
Aug 21 (Reuters) - Asian currencies edged lower on
Monday with Indonesia's rupiah leading losses after China
delivered a smaller-than-expected cut to lending rates,
disappointing markets, while the Thai economy grew at a
slower-than-expected pace.
The Indonesian rupiah depreciated 0.3% while the Thai
baht appreciated 0.2%. The Malaysian and
Singaporean currencies fell marginally.
Ken Cheng, chief Asia FX strategist at Mizuho Bank, said
the mild rate cuts in China were "negative news" as the cuts may
not be very effective in supporting the economy, meaning the
continuation of softening growth momentum would dampen the
outlook for the whole of Asia.
China's stocks and currency lost 0.4% and
0.3%, respectively, after its central bank trimmed its one-year
lending rate by 10 basis points and left its five-year rate
unmoved, a surprise to analysts who had expected cuts of 15
basis points to both.
"No cut on 5-year LPR (loan prime rate) is a big surprise
and this may further lead to lower expectation on the cut of
existing mortgage rate, given no rate cut on 5-year LPR already
indicated the big NIM (net interest margin) pressure the banks
are facing," said Willer Chen, research analyst at Forsyth Barr
Asia.
Meanwhile, Southeast Asian economies have been showing signs
of weakness, growing at a slower-than-expected pace in the
second quarter on a slowdown in global demand.
In Thailand, the government trimmed its 2023 gross domestic
product growth outlook to between 2.5% and 3.0% from 2.7% to
3.7%.
"The weakness components in the Q2 GDP reports ... are
pretty much widely expected by analysts that these figures would
be quite bad. So even with worse-than-expected data, it didn't
affect THB that much," said Poon Panichpibool, markets
strategist at Krung Thai Bank.
Southeast Asia's second-largest economy is due to vote for a
new prime minister on Tuesday in a bid to end months of
political deadlock following a May election.
"The incoming parliamentary vote on the new PM could
potentially cause more volatility for Thai assets, foreign fund
flows and ultimately the THB since it might not go as smooth as
it should be," Poon added.
Most stocks in the region traded sideways, with the
benchmark Philippine index leading losses, falling more
than 1.2%. Shares in Singapore lost 0.5% while equities
in Jakarta and Malaysia were both up more than
0.1%.
HIGHLIGHTS
** Most Thais oppose plan for Pheu Thai-military coalition
government - poll
** Indonesian 10-year benchmark yields are up 6.1 basis
points at 6.553%
** Japan's core inflation eases, bolstering view BOJ will
stand pat
Asia stock indexes and
currencies at 0350 GMT
COUNTRY FX RIC FX FX INDE STOCK STOCK
DAILY YTD X S S YTD
% % DAILY %
%
Japan -0.03 -9.8 <.N2 0.78 23.21
3 25>
China 6 EC>
India +0.02 -0.4 <.NS 0.00 6.65
4 EI>
Indones -0.26 +1.6 <.JK 0.17 0.30
ia 0 SE>
Malaysi -0.11 -5.3 <.KL 0.14 -3.17
a 8 SE>
Philipp -0.25 -1.0 <.PS -1.17 -4.21
ines 8 I>
S.Korea 0 11>
Singapo -0.07 -1.3 <.ST -0.45 -2.82
re 2 I>
Taiwan -0.03 -3.8 <.TW -0.03 15.84
9 II>
Thailan +0.24 -2.0 <.SE -0.07 -9.03
d 8 TI>
(Editing by Robert Birsel)