AN index of emerging Asia equities booked its steepest one-day loss in a week on Wednesday, with Singapore and South Korea shedding the most, as surging crude prices and US yields holding near multi-year peaks steered investors away from the region.
Oil climbed back above $100 a barrel as a storm heading for North American oil-producing regions and Houthi attacks on top exporter Saudi Arabia raised supply worries.
US Treasury yields, meanwhile, remained near 24-year highs touched earlier this week due to concerns around inflation and European debt contagion.
The combination is a familiar headwind for energy-sensitive emerging Asia, where many economies are net oil importers and higher US yields draw money away from the region's relatively riskier assets.
MSCI's index of EM Asia equities fell 0.9%, its sharpest single-day decline since September 28.
"The macro backdrop that weighed on the region through September hasn't materially improved. Investors aren't fleeing EM Asia outright, but they are hesitant to add risk with the US Federal Reserve's next move on rates still uncertain," said Inki Cho, senior financial market strategist at online trading platform Exness.
Tech-linked South Korean equities extended losses for the second straight day to close down 2%, with investors cautious ahead of chipmaker Samsung Electronics' preliminary quarterly earnings, due on Thursday, to assess the outlook for AI demand.
Stocks in Taiwan, another AI-linked market, closed marginally down by 16.18 points. The benchmark had scored a record high of 49,968.92 in the previous session.
Taiwan offers a cleaner way to play AI demand than South Korea, where investors worry that profits from high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips may be peaking, Cho said.
Both markets "remain compelling on a medium-term view," but rising bond yields and earnings concerns make the near-term picture less clear, he added.
Singapore equities declined as much as 1.7% to a two-month low, while Malaysian shares lost 1.3% to hit their lowest since December 2025.
The Jakarta Composite Index gave up early gains to edge down as much as 0.8%.
FTSE Russell said in its September fixed-income country classification announcement that Indonesia's Secondary Emerging market status remains unchanged as it continues to monitor the country's capital market integrity reforms.
The update comes ahead of MSCI's upcoming November review that will assess the slate of measures rolled out to improve the transparency and investability of Indonesian assets.
In India, the central bank hiked rates by 25 basis points, its first increase in nearly four years, to tackle persistent inflation brought on by the Iran war. The rupee weakened past 96.50 per US dollar for the first time since late July.
Other regional currencies were mostly steady against an unchanged greenback, with MSCI's EM currencies gauge largely flat in Asian trading hours. The Thai baht, however, weakened 0.3%.
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** Indonesia's Constitutional Court dismisses challenge to vice president over education credentials
** Malaysia 2027 budget to tackle living costs, fiscal risks as election looms
** Vietnam's banks tap investors for $7 billion as economy runs red hot - Reuters
