EMERGING MARKETS-Most Asian shares rise; FX struggle for direction on yuan weakness

(.) * Investors await more details on US debt ceiling talks * Weakness in yuan weighs on sentiment * Philippines c.bank holds rates By Archishma Iyer May 18 (Reuters) - Most Asian shares were on the front foot on Thursday, while their currencies were mixed, as investors awaited more details on the progression of the debt ceiling talks in Washington, even as disappointing Chinese data weighed on sentiment. On Wednesday, U.S President Joe Biden and top U.S. congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy underscored their determination to reach an agreement soon, pledging to negotiate directly on a deal amid estimates that the Treasury could run out of money by the start of June. "Regarding the debt ceiling, there seems enough of an incentive from both sides to get a deal done, and I think that's why investors aren't getting too worried about it, especially given that the situation has been to the wire before," Josh Gilbert, a market analyst with e-Toro said. Equities in India, South Korea, Thailand and Singapore rose in the range of 0.1% and 1.1%. However, bleak data from Asia's largest economy, pointing towards the possibility that China's post-COVID recovery was not up to the mark, kept investors on the sidelines and contributed to the downward trend of the Chinese yuan. The Chinese currency fell 0.4% to trade at 7.0234 per dollar and had crossed the psychological 7 per dollar level on Wednesday for the first time in five months. That resulted in a reversal of gains in some Asian currencies, with the Singapore dollar, Indian rupee and the Thailand baht trading 0.2% lower respectively. "The last set of data, such as the activity, loan growth and manufacturing which were low is quite suggestive of a push back in the China reopening optimism, and to some extent, markets are also increasingly getting impatient with this markets reopening theme," Christopher Wong, a currency strategist from OCBC said. Separately, the South Korean won gained the most among Asian currencies, rising about 0.2%, while the Taiwan dollar advanced about 0.2%. The Philippines peso rose about 0.2%, after the nation's central bank left its rates on hold, with inflation on track to ease towards its 2% to 4% target range for the year. "The central bank governor did say that policymakers will stand to raise rates if inflationary pressures persist, but given that inflation forecast was revised lower, a pause is likely for now," Wong added. At 0730 GMT, the dollar index, which measures the strength of the greenback against the currencies of six major trading partners, was hovering below a two-month high at 103. Markets in Indonesia were closed on account of a public holiday. HIGHLIGHTS: ** Thailand's Move Forward confident of more support to form government ** POLL-Bearish bets on Asian FX firm on US debt default risk, slow China recovery ** EXCLUSIVE-India considers policy change after cough syrup deaths Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0730 GMT COUNTRY FX RIC FX FX YTD INDEX STOCKS STOCKS DAILY % % DAILY YTD % % Japan +0.04 -4.73 <.N225 1.50 17.17 > China > India -0.18 +0.23 <.NSEI 0.12 0.54 > Indonesi +0.00 +4.74 <.JKSE -0.20 -2.74 a > Malaysia -0.26 -2.91 <.KLSE 0.03 -4.73 > Philippi +0.18 -0.64 -0.10 0.95 nes S.Korea > Singapor -0.17 -0.31 0.46 -1.94 e Taiwan +0.20 -0.15 <.TWII 1.11 13.89 > Thailand -0.22 +0.83 <.SETI 1.06 -7.78 > (Reporting by Archishma Iyer in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K)