EMERGING MARKETS-Philippine peso slips to one-week low; Seoul, Singapore stocks hit records

By Rajasik Mukherjee

Feb 20 (Reuters) - The Philippine peso fell to a one-week low on Friday on higher oil prices and cautious comments from the central bank governor, while South Korean and Singapore stocks hit record highs.

The peso PHP= weakened 0.3% to its lowest since Feb. 12, a day after the central bank delivered a largely priced-in 25-basis-point rate cut.

Investors focused on the governor’s caution that the policy outlook would depend on how quickly confidence returned to the economy.

"The BSP's cut came with cautious guidance, reflecting a weaker-than-expected recovery, softer confidence indicators and delays in government spending," said Radhika Rao, senior economist at DBS Bank.

The peso was still up 0.4% for the week, set to snap a four-week losing streak.

Analysts also pointed out that the rise in oil prices could impact Asian currencies, especially the peso, as most economies in the region are net oil importers.

"Brent prices have climbed by around $10 a barrel since the start of the year and this makes the outlook for Asia FX less bullish on the margins," said Abbas Keshvani, Asia macro strategist at RBC Capital Markets.

"PHP will come under greater depreciation pressure if energy prices remain elevated."

Elsewhere in the region, the Indonesian rupiah IDR= was down 0.2% in early trade but soon pared losses to trade flat.

Indonesia and the United States signed a reciprocal trade deal on Friday that keeps Washington's 19% tariff on Indonesian exports unchanged.

The deal comes after a rough start to the year for Indonesian markets. Setbacks include MSCI’s warning last month that transparency issues could see the equity market downgraded to ‘frontier’ status, and Moody’s move two weeks ago to cut the country’s credit rating outlook.

The rest of the region's currencies struggled for momentum, with several set to log weekly losses.

The Singapore dollar SGD=, down 0.6% for the week, was on track for its worst week since mid-November and the Thai baht THB=TH has declined 0.2% so far this week.

On the equities front, the South Korean stocks .KS11 rose over 2% to scale a record. The index has gained 5.3% so far this week.

Singapore stocks .STI rose as much as 0.5% to hit a record high as well.

The stock index has risen 1.4% so far this week, eyeing its best week since mid-January. The index was tracking its ninth consecutive week of gains.

Thailand stocks .SETI shed 1%, but were set to rise 3.4% this week, its sixth consecutive week of gains.

Markets in China and Taiwan were closed on Friday due to the Lunar New Year holidays.

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