* Malaysian ringgit top loser
* China's GDP marginally ahead of estimates
* PBOC keeps MLF rate unchanged

By Rishav Chatterjee
       July 17 (Reuters) - Major Asian currencies and share
markets dropped on Monday as underwhelming economic growth data
suggested China's post-pandemic bounce was over, while the
prospect of more U.S. interest rate hikes also dampened the
outlook for global demand. 
    The Malaysian ringgit and Chinese yuan led the
losses ,down 0.6% and 0.4% with other local currencies like the
rupiah in Indonesia and peso in Philippines also
falling.
    The U.S. dollar index, measuring its value against a
basket of major trading partner's currencies, was steady at
99.936. Last week, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller
said he expected two more quarter percentage point rate hikes
this year to bring inflation down, and favoured making the first
hike later this month. 
    The ringgit has declined over 3.3% since the start of the
year, underperforming against all its emerging Asian peers, as
investors remained on guard against potential political
instability, falling external demand, and the impact of   
slowing growth in China. 
    China's economy grew 0.8% in April-June from the previous
quarter, just beating market expectations, and raising
expectations that Beijing will deliver more economic stimulus.
    Industrial output also unexpectedly accelerated in June from
the month earlier though retail sales just grew 3.1% in June
after rising 12.7% in May. 
    "Perhaps the bar for China’s recovery had been set too high,
although it would also be fair to say that China’s economic data
to date has been tepid at best," said analysts at Maybank in a
note.
    On Monday, the People's Bank of China kept the interest rate
unchanged on 103 billion yuan ($14.43 billion) worth of one-year
medium-term lending facility (MLF) loans .
    The Singapore dollar fell 0.1% after data showed that
the country's non-oil domestic exports fell 15.5% for the month.
    Thailand's baht and stock market trod water 
while investors waited to see who would emerge as the next
leader of the government. Thailand's Move Forward party filed a
motion in parliament on Friday seeking to curb the power of the
military-appointed Senate, a day after the body thwarted its
party leader's bid to become prime minister.
    The baht fell 0.2% while shares in Bangkok were flat. 
    Mainland China shares led the falls in Asia, with
Shanghai's benchmark index falling 1.2%.
    Bracing for a typhoon,  Hong Kong cancelled its morning
trading session, and could cancel the afternoon session too.
    Stock markets in Taiwan and Indonesia gained 0.1%
and 0.4% respectively whereas shares in Kuala Lumpur and
Singapore fell 0.6% and 0.2%. 
        
  
 
  Asia stock indexes and                             
 currencies at 0401 GMT                         
 COUNTRY  FX RIC        FX     FX  INDE  STOCK  STOCK
                     DAILY  YTD %     X      S  S YTD
                         %               DAILY      %
                                             %  
 Japan               +0.06  -5.44  <.N2  -0.09  24.13
                                   25>          
 China                           EC>          
 India               -0.01  +0.67  <.NS   0.14   8.21
                                   EI>          
 Indones             -0.30  +3.77  <.JK   0.43   0.71
 ia                                SE>          
 Malaysi             -0.62  -3.32  <.KL  -0.60  -6.15
 a                                 SE>          
 Philipp             -0.13  +2.32  <.PS  -0.47   0.42
 ines                              I>           
 S.Korea                         11>          
 Singapo             -0.11  +1.31  <.ST  -0.17  -0.26
 re                                I>           
 Taiwan              -0.44  -1.03  <.TW   0.11  22.39
                                   II>          
 Thailan             -0.20  -0.30  <.SE   0.00  -9.03
 d                                 TI>          
   
    
    HIGHLIGHTS:    
    ** Hong Kong bourse scraps morning trading session
    ** Thailand sees limited impact from delayed fiscal budget -
official
    ** POLL-Indonesia's June trade surplus seen widening to
$1.35 bln

    
 (Reporting by Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Simon
Cameron-Moore)