EM ASIA FX-Most currencies firmer; Indian rupee leads gains after Moody's upgrade

(Adds text, updates prices)

By Aditya Soni

Nov 17 (Reuters) - Most Asian currencies strengthened on

Friday with the U.S. dollar weakened by a media report that

investigators into possible Russian interference in the 2016

U.S. presidential election had subpoenaed President Donald

Trump's election campaign for documents.

The dollar index was down 0.37 percent to 93.582

after the Wall Street Journal reported that Special Counsel

Robert Mueller's team last month subpoenaed documents containing

specified Russian keywords from more than a dozen

officials.

"I think the Wall Street Journal report has impacted the

dollar move this morning. Overnight, the dollar was somewhat

firm. But ever since this news came out, broad-based weakness

has been observed in it. This has helped the Asian currencies,"

said Sim Moh Siong, FX strategist at Bank of Singapore.

The greenback had edged higher overnight, bouncing back from

a more than three-week low in the previous session, after the

U.S. House of Representatives passed a tax reform bill.

The focus on the tax debate now moves to the Senate, where a

tax-writing panel finished debating and approved a bill late

Thursday evening. That measure has already encountered

resistance from some within the Republicans ranks.

The Indian rupee and Japanese yen led the

gains among the regional currencies.

The Korean won firmed 0.4 percent to its highest

since Sept. 2016, on track for fourth consecutive session of

gains. The currency gained 1.8 percent over the the week, its

highest weekly gain since July 14.

The Singapore dollar rose marginally after data on

Friday showed that the city-state's exports rose the most in

2-1/2 years in October, well over double market expectations.

"The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) rarely makes

comments between the two semi-annual monetary policy committee

meetings. But as an export-driven economy, strong exports could

see MAS turning more hawkish in April 2018," said Qi Gao, FX

Strategist (EM Asia) at Scotiabank.

The Thai baht strengthened 0.3 percent to its

highest since April 2015, while the Philippine peso

and the Indonesian rupiah also climbed and were on

track for weekly gains.

INDIAN RUPEE

The Indian rupee firmed 0.8 percent against the

dollar as Moody's Investors Services upgraded its ratings on the

country's sovereign bonds on Friday.

Moody's said it was lifting India's rating to Baa2 from Baa3

and changed its rating outlook to stable from positive as risks

to India's credit profile were broadly balanced.

"The knee-jerk may be for bonds to rally (lower yields), in

particular enjoying some relief from recent bond sell-off

(yields being pushed higher). And in turn, this could feed into

positive debt-fiscal-INR (rupee) dynamics," said Vishnu

Varathan, senior economist at Mizuho Bank.

The rating agency also said the recently-introduced goods

and services tax (GST), a landmark reform that turned India's 29

states into a single customs union for the first time, will

boost productivity by removing barriers to interstate trade.

ASIAN CURRENCY POSITIONING

Investors raised their bullish bets on most Asian currencies

over the past two weeks, with long positions on the Malaysian

ringgit at their highest since March 2016, a Reuters

poll showed, as the dollar came under pressure after doubts

about the prospects of U.S. tax reform showed no signs of

abating.

Investors have increased their bullish bets on the ringgit

, the South Korean won, and the Thai baht, the poll of 10

respondents showed.

Long positions on the Singapore dollar rose five-fold as

investors became more optimistic about the pace of economic

growth after factory activity in October expanded the most since

December 2009

MALAYSIAN RINGGIT

The Malaysian ringgit ticked up 0.4 percent against the

dollar as the economy expanded 6.2 percent annually in the third

quarter, its highest quarterly growth in more than three years.

The growth in gross domestic prdouct beat a median forecast

of a Reuters poll, supported by by robust private sector

spending and strong exports.

The following table shows rates for Asian currencies against

the dollar at 0524 GMT.

CURRENCIES VS U.S. DOLLAR

Change on the day at 0524 GMT

Currency Latest bid Previous day Pct Move

Japan yen 112.520 113.05 +0.47

Sing dlr 1.355 1.3562 +0.07

Taiwan dlr 30.089 30.158 +0.23

Korean won 1097.400 1101.4 +0.36

Baht 32.840 32.94 +0.30

Peso 50.825 50.9 +0.15

Rupiah 13518.000 13540 +0.16

Rupee 64.818 65.32 +0.78

Ringgit 4.160 4.175 +0.36

Yuan 6.629 6.6283 -0.00

Change so far

Currency Latest bid End 2016 Pct Move

Japan yen 112.520 117.07 +4.04

Sing dlr 1.355 1.4490 +6.92

Taiwan dlr 30.089 32.279 +7.28

Korean won 1097.400 1207.70 +10.05

Baht 32.840 35.80 +9.01

Peso 50.825 49.72 -2.17

Rupiah 13518.000 13470 -0.36

Rupee 64.818 67.92 +4.79

Ringgit 4.160 4.4845 +7.80

Yuan 6.629 6.9467 +4.80

(Reporting by Aditya Soni in Bengaluru; Editing by Eric Meijer)