EMERGING MARKETS-Taiwan dollar extends rally; most other Asian currencies strengthen

* Graphic: World FX rates https://tmsnrt.rs/2RBWI5E * Taiwan's stock and bond markets closed until Feb. 16 * Thai, Indian, and Indonesia equities gain more than 1%each By Shruti Sonal Feb 8 (Reuters) - The Taiwan dollar continued to risesharply on Monday, despite the country's central bank attemptingto crackdown on speculation around the currency, while mostother emerging Asian currencies also firmed against the U.S.dollar. The Taiwan dollar, the region's best-performingcurrency in 2021 so far, strengthened more than 1.4% on Monday. Rising global demand for tech products from the island'strade-dependent economy has propelled the currency to itsstrongest in more than 23 years, against the U.S. dollar. On Sunday, the country's central bank said it had bannedDeutsche Bank from trading Taiwan dollar deliverableand non-deliverable forwards and suspended it for two years fromtrading forex derivatives. "We can see an official push-back but the reality is thatthe flows are still very supportive of Taiwan dollar", saidMitul Kotecha, Senior EM Strategist at TD Securities. There will be a bit of a resistance, but it's hard to seeany reversal of gains in the currency, he said, adding that itis also less sensitive to U.S. dollar's moves than peers in theregion, such as the South Korean won. Aiding the currency further, data showed Taiwan's Januaryexports rose by 36.8% from last year, much higher than the 15%increase expected in a Reuters poll. Meanwhile, a weaker U.S. dollar helped the Thai baht, Indonesian rupiah and the Malaysian ringgit gain between 0.1% and 0.4%. The dollar index weakened against a basket of sixmajor currencies, after falling 0.6% on Friday, as data at theend of last week showed the U.S. economy created fewer jobs thanexpected in January. However, analysts were cautious about the rally in emergingAsian currencies, despite the recent risk-on mood in markets. "Going forward, the dollar index will likely rebound alongwith the rising 10-year U.S. treasury yield, considering theU.S. economic recovery and Joe Biden's coronavirus reliefpackage", said Gao Qi, FX strategist for EM Asia at Scotiabank. "It means we could see the dollar's divergent performanceversus EM Asian currencies including the CNY, CNH and INR in thecoming weeks", he added. Most shares in the region climbed, tracking broader gains inglobal equities, on hopes that a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 aidpackage will be passed by U.S. lawmakers soon. Thailand, India, Singapore andIndonesia added about 1% each. Volumes remained low ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday inmost markets. Taiwan's stock and bond markets are closedstarting Monday until Feb. 16, while Chinese financial marketswill be closed for a week starting Feb. 11. Highlights: ** EXCLUSIVE-Buyers shun major Malaysian palm oil producersafter forced labour allegations ** Top gainers on the Singapore STI include SingaporeAirlines Ltd, SATS Ltd, DBS Group HoldingsLtd ** Thailand's 10-year government bond yields are up 5 basispoints at 1.32% Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0814 GMT COUNTRY FX RIC FX FX INDEX STOCKS STOCKS DAILY YTD % DAILY YTD % % % Japan -0.12 -2.13 <.N22 2.12 7.08 5> China C> India +0.08 +0.28 <.NSE 1.29 8.12 I> Indones +0.18 +0.32 <.JKS 0.93 3.84 ia E> Malaysi +0.14 -1.05 <.KLS -0.12 -3.11 a E> Philipp +0.00 -0.06 <.PSI 0.08 -1.61 ines > S.Korea 1> Singapo +0.02 -0.98 <.STI 0.98 3.23 re > Taiwan +0.00 +0.33 <.TWI - 7.26 I> Thailan +0.10 -0.23 <.SET 1.18 4.48 d I> (Reporting by Shruti Sonal in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V)