* Graphic: World FX rates tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh * Thai central bank leaves rates unchanged * Says to monitor baht, consider additional measures * Indonesia, Philippine central banks to meet on Thursday By Nikhil Nainan Nov 18 (Reuters) - Thailand's baht dipped and shares struggled on Wednesday as the country's central bank again warned against an overly strong currency and said the economy remained fragile, trailing gains elsewhere in Asia amid a pullback on global stock markets. Stocks in Manila and Taiwan rose 1%, while Jakarta advanced half a percent, as investors banked on the region's relative success in controlling the pandemic to fuel its economic recovery. Thailand's central bank left its key interest rate at a record low of 0.5%, as expected, but said the recent rise of the baht could hurt the recovery of the country's tourism-and trade-reliant economy. The baht has gained around 3% on the dollar so far in November, with the Bank of Thailand signalling it may take steps to stem the rise. Thai stocks, the region's worst performers so far this year, on Wednesday erased earlier gains while the baht dipped 0.2%. "Although the economy has now passed the worst, interest rates will need to remain low for a long time to support the recovery," Gareth Leather, a senior Asia economist at Capital Economics, said shortly after the decision. The "recovery will struggle to gain traction" given that tourism is showing little sign of improvement, Leather added. Relief over COVID-19 vaccine developments over the last week has been overshadowed by a surge in cases globally and fresh social restrictions that threaten to wreck any immediate hopes for a recovery. Soft U.S. retail sales overnight highlighted the fragile economic situation and sent Wall Street lower. "Despite the slight pull-back in risk overnight, the market still seem to lean risk-positive by default," OCBC Bank analysts wrote in a note. Both the Philippine and Indonesian central banks have their policy meetings on Thursday, where they are expected to keep rates unchanged. The rupiah, a favourite among foreign investors looking at Indonesia's high-yielding bond market, fell 0.2%. Bank Indonesia is slated to keep its benchmark seven-day reserve repurchase rate steady at 4% on Thursday, for a fourth straight meeting. Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0707 GMT COUNTRY FX RIC FX FX INDEX STOCKS STOCKS DAILY % YTD % DAILY % YTD % Japan +0.24 +4.51 -1.10 8.76 China +0.18 +6.38 0.21 9.73 India +0.26 -3.89 -0.22 5.57 Indonesia -0.21 -1.28 0.48 -11.80 Malaysia +0.35 +0.04 -0.74 0.59 Philippines +0.17 +5.10 1.33 -9.77 S.Korea +0.25 +4.77 0.26 15.83 Singapore +0.08 +0.21 0.19 -13.62 Taiwan +1.10 +5.63 1.33 14.80 Thailand -0.20 -0.99 -0.04 -14.60 (Reporting by Nikhil Kurian Nainan in Bengaluru; Editing by Kim Coghill and Anil D'Silva)
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