EMERGING MARKETS-Asian stocks subdued on virus woes, Biden's tax proposal

By Harish Sridharan

April 23 (Reuters) - Asian equities were subdued on Friday, as surging coronavirus infections in India and Thailand sapped risk appetite, while reports of a potential hike in capital gains tax in the United States also dampened sentiment.

All major indexes on Wall Street suffered overnight after reports that the U.S President Joe Biden planned to raise income taxes on the wealthy to fund major investments in child care, universal pre-kindergarten education, and paid leave for workers.

Indian stocks .NSEI stood slightly lower after losing as much as 0.6% in early trade, as the country recorded the world's highest daily tally of coronavirus cases for a second day in a row, with its health infrastructure crumbling under the burden of a second wave of infections.

Stocks in Bangkok .SETI fell 0.5%, while the baht weakened THB=TH and was eyeing its worst session in over 10 days, as Thailand reported its highest number of daily cases since the pandemic began.

Data showing an unexpected 8.47% jump in the country's exports for March, marking its fastest pace in 28 months, did little to lift the mood as the economic outlook remained uncertain.

Malaysian government data showed that the country's consumer price index in March rose 1.7% from a year earlier, surpassing the 1.4% annual growth forecast by a Reuters poll. The country's equities and currency were flat.

Singapore's key price gauge rose by the fastest pace in more than a year, with the core inflation rate rising to 0.5% in March from a year earlier, compared with 0.2% in February. Equities .STI were down 0.3%, while the Singapore dollar SGD= was relatively flat.

"From a monetary policy perspective, this jump in headline inflation will be of no surprise to the authorities," analysts at Mizuho wrote in a note, referring to both countries.

Central banks in Singapore and Malaysia are not expected to respond to the widely anticipated pick-up in headline inflation, given the bulk of the price pressures are expected to be transitory, they added.

South Korea's benchmark stock index .KS11 was trading flat, but was on track to post its first weekly loss in five weeks, as worries over surging virus cases weighed on sentiment. The won KRW=KFTC was off 0.1% against the dollar.

Highlights

** Top loser on Thailand's SETI .SETI was Sabuy Technology PCL SABUY.BK, down 5.47%

** Top Glove Corporation Bhd TPGC.KL gained as much as 2.5% to hit a two month high

** JG Summit Holdings Inc JGS.PS down 1.72% and top loser in Philippines benchmark index .PSI

Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0505 GMT

COUNTRY

FX RIC

FX DAILY %

FX YTD %

INDEX

STOCKS DAILY %

STOCKS YTD %

Japan

JPY=

+0.06

-4.32

.N225

#VALUE!

#VALUE!

China

CNY=CFXS

-0.06

+0.51

.SSEC

0.05

-0.18

India

INR=IN

+0.14

-2.38

.NSEI

-0.07

2.97

Indonesia

IDR=

-0.10

-3.37

.JKSE

0.24

0.49

Malaysia

MYR=

+0.06

-2.14

.KLSE

0.03

-1.17

Philippines

PHP=

-0.02

-0.74

.PSI

-0.58

-10.67

S.Korea

KRW=KFTC

-0.11

-2.89

.KS11

0.21

10.81

Singapore

SGD=

+0.05

-0.56

.STI

-0.27

11.79

Taiwan

TWD=TP

+0.06

+1.28

.TWII

0.79

16.97

Thailand

THB=TH

-0.13

-4.49

.SETI

-0.54

7.61

(Reporting by Harish Sridharan in Bengaluru)

((Harish.Sridharan@thomsonreuters.com;))

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.