EMERGING MARKETS-Asian stocks, Chinese yuan strengthen on friendly Xi-Biden call

* Indonesia, Philippine c.banks to hold rates - Reuters polls * Thai stocks gain for fourth day * China's yuan scales five-month high By Arundhati Dutta Nov 16 (Reuters) - Most emerging Asian stock markets rose and the yuan scaled a five-month peak on Tuesday as traders were encouraged by positive developments in talks between Chinese Premier Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden. Jinping and Biden opened talks warmly and stressed their responsibility to avoid conflict. They are expected to discuss a range of issues including tariffs on China imposed by former U.S. President Donald Trump. Thai stocks led gains in the region, up 0.5%, followed by the Philippines , Malaysia and Taiwan indexes gaining around 0.3% each. Additionally, "most Asian countries have started to embark on 'living with COVID' via reopening of borders for international travels, which in turn could boast economic activities," said Kelvin Wong, an analyst for CMC markets. The Philippines has just started to reopen schools after 20 months of pandemic-induced closures, while Thailand opened up https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/thailand-announces-reopening-rules-tourism-reboot-2021-10-22 its top tourist destinations to visitors from more than 45 countries from Nov. 1. Bangkok shares climbed for a fourth session to hit their highest level in nearly a month after the Thai government forecast higher growth for 2021, with more stimulus set to be introduced. The Jakarta benchmark rose 0.3% and was on track for its best session in a week, while the Indonesian rupiah flitted between positive and negative territory. The unit was down 0.1%, as of 0710 GMT. Investors now await Bank Indonesia's (BI) policy meeting due on Thursday, where interest rates are expected to remain unchanged to aid an economic recovery from the COVID-19 fallout, according to a Reuters poll. "Improving activity, inflation and U.S. Federal Reserve policy tightening are likely to push BI to normalize policy settings, starting in the second-quarter of 2022," Goldman Sachs analysts said in a note over the weekend. Meanwhile, most regional currencies gave up early gains as the U.S. dollar held near a 16-month peak, even as the yuan touched a five-month high. The Philippine peso, down 0.3%, weakened the most, followed by the South Korean won and the Malaysian ringgit as both eased around 0.1% each. The Philippine central bank is expected to stand pat on interest rates when it meets on Thursday for a policy review, according to a separate Reuters poll. HIGHLIGHTS: ** Indonesian 3-year benchmark yields are down 2.4 basis points at 4.548 ** Malaysia's 10-year benchmark yield is unchanged at 3.562% ** PLDT Inc and International Container Terminal add around 2%, each on the Philippine benchmark Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0732 GMT COUNTRY FX RIC FX DAILY % FX YTD % INDEX STOCKS DAILY % STOCKS YTD % Japan -0.10 -9.62 0.11 8.61 China +0.11 +2.37 -0.33 1.40 India +0.06 -1.85 -0.16 29.31 Indonesia -0.08 -1.28 0.32 11.00 Malaysia -0.10 -3.46 0.30 -6.16 Philippines -0.30 -4.51 0.34 3.19 S.Korea -0.13 -7.94 -0.08 4.31 Singapore -0.04 -2.42 0.06 14.03 Taiwan -0.03 +2.49 0.33 20.10 Thailand -0.03 -8.46 0.42 13.55 (Reporting by Arundhati Dutta in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)