EMERGING MARKETS-South Korea rallies on Anthropic IPO filing; Asian currencies steady

By Roshan Thomas

Oct 27 (Reuters) - South Korea's tech-heavy stock market rallied on Tuesday after AI bellwether Anthropic filed for an initial public offering, while emerging Asian currencies were little changed against a steady US dollar.

MSCI's emerging Asia equities index .MIMS00000PUS rose 0.7%, underpinned by gains in South Korea's KOSPI .KS11. Along with Taiwan's benchmark index, South Korean shares account for more than half of the regional gauge.

Investor sentiment was buoyed by Anthropic's closely watched IPO filing, which lifted risk appetite ahead of earnings from major US technology companies.

The optimism drove the KOSPI up as much as 4.9% earlier in the session before it was last trading 3.7% higher.

Manila shares .PSI rose 1.4%, while Thai stocks .SETI were flat ahead of the Bank of Thailand's policy decision this week, with markets widely expecting policymakers to leave interest rates unchanged and maintain that stance through 2027.

Elsewhere in emerging markets, Brazil's real plunged 8.5% against the US dollar on Monday, its steepest one-day decline since 2002. The selloff also battered equities, with the benchmark Bovespa index .BVSP tumbling 10% and triggering a 30-minute trading halt.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's election to a fourth term unwound some of the optimism that had lifted Brazilian assets after rival Jair Bolsonaro's stronger-than-expected first-round showing.

Currency markets were largely subdued, with the Philippine peso sliding to a record low and edging closer to the 64-per-dollar mark.

"The peso faces an oil headwind but with a different policy response... higher rates could help slow the pace of peso depreciation, though acting a drag on growth," analysts at MUFG said in a note.

Indonesia's rupiah traded near record lows at 18,130 per US dollar, remaining within sight of the all-time trough hit in early June. Jakarta stocks .JKSE swung between gains and losses and were last down 0.1%.

Indonesia may need higher interest rates to retain foreign capital, with borrowing costs likely to rise further as elevated global yields and intense competition for investment, including from AI-related spending, put pressure on capital flows, said Gerald Gan, chief investment officer at Reed Capital Partners.

"In the near term, I remain bearish on the rupiah... While Danantara appears to have stepped in to support the equity market, doubtful that it has sufficient liquidity to sustainably offset the persistent foreign outflows we are seeing," Gan added.

Investors also awaited a raft of central bank decisions, due this week, with markets widely expecting the US Federal Reserve, the Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank to keep interest rates unchanged.

HIGHLIGHTS:

** Indonesian 10-year benchmark yields rise 7.454%

** South Korea Q3 GDP beats forecasts as AI chip boom boosts exports, investments

** Ex-BOJ chief Kuroda backs more rate hikes, his former deputy urges caution