EMERGING MARKETS-Thai baht slides after minister's push for weaker currency, peso lags on political jitters

By Rishav Chatterjee

May 22 (Reuters) - The Thai baht surrendered early gains on Thursday after the commerce minister called for a weaker currency to bolster exports, while the Philippine peso lagged regional peers over mounting political uncertainty in the Southeast Asian country.

Overall, Asian currencies gained on a weak dollar while equities fell.

Thailand's currency THB=TH fell 0.3% to 32.825 per U.S. dollar after rising 0.5% earlier in the day. Equities in Bangkok .SETI traded 0.3% lower.

Pichai Naripthaphan, the country's commerce minister, said he wanted a weaker baht to support exports and that a level of 36-37 per U.S. dollar was more suitable.

The minister said that Thailand’s exchange rate policy was not part of ongoing trade negotiations with the United States.

"The intraday reversal likely reflects how sensitive FX markets are to verbal intervention. When a senior policymaker explicitly says the currency needs to weaken, markets take that as a green light," said Mohit Mirpuri, equity fund manager at SGMC Capital.

"While fundamentals like tourism recovery and current account surplus support the baht medium term, these types of comments can dampen momentum short term."

The Philippine peso PHP= was only marginally higher as mounting political uncertainty in the country capped gains, while stocks .PSI fell as much as 1.7% to hit their lowest level since April-end.

Political instability has deepened in the Philippines after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. asked for the resignation of his entire cabinet, following a lackluster performance by his allies in last week’s Senate elections.

Maybank analysts see support for the peso, including rising inflows, as the country's economy remains relatively sheltered.

Meanwhile, the central bank of Sri Lanka surprised markets with a 25-basis-point rate cut in a bid to support growth in a country facing lingering economic issues.

The Sri Lankan rupee LKR= inched higher while equities in Colombo .CSE jumped as much as 0.9% to hit their highest since March 3.

Among other currencies, the Indonesian rupiah IDR=, Taiwan dollar TWD=TP and its Singaporean counterpart SGD= gained up to 0.4%, 0.3% and 0.1%, respectively.

"Asia EM FX has mainly been lifted by market perception that the US is looking for a weaker dollar versus Asian currencies, as part of its efforts to address its deep trade imbalances with several Asian economies," said Lloyd Chan, FX strategist at MUFG.

Stocks in Taiwan .TWII, Singapore .STI and South Korea .KS11 slipped 0.6%, 0.1% and 1.2%, respectively.

Investor focus remained on U.S. President Donald Trump's tax bill, set for a congressional vote this week.

HIGHLIGHTS:

Indonesia's Q1 current account deficit narrows to 0.1% of GDP

Singapore sees technical recession risk after Q1 contraction