* Investors await the open of U.S. markets after a long
weekend
    * Rupiah dips most among currencies 
    * Philippines up 1.7% as daily COVID-19 cases drop to 8-week
low  
    * Graphic: World FX rates tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh

    By Nikhil Nainan
    Sept 8 (Reuters) - Philippine stocks climbed nearly 2% on
Tuesday as the number of new COVID-19 cases fell to their lowest
in eight weeks, leading gains for most other Asian emerging
stock markets as U.S. futures pointed to gains for Wall Street
later in the day.
    Investors' appetite for risk globally looked to be
stabilising after a week which saw a corrective sell-off to the
high-flying technology stocks which have driven much of the
recovery from March's coronavirus-driven plunge.
    With the exception of Malaysia and Thailand, all of Asia's
emerging stock markets were higher in afternoon trade, with
Singapore also up. Seoul shares jumped 0.7%.
    Philippine stocks closed higher for a fourth session and
were at their highest in nearly three weeks.
    Ruben Carlo O. Asuncion, chief economist at Union Bank of
the Philippines, pointed to a "general positive trend" of
improving sentiment in the country toward its economic recovery
as COVID-19 cases fall and some indicators improve. 
    Currencies across the region were mixed as the dollar gave
up some gains, while both China's yuan and India's
rupee were trending lower amid escalating tensions
between the nuclear-armed nations.
    Indonesia's rupiah dipped the most, however, around a
third of a percent.
    The rupiah has lost about 1.5% since a panel last week
suggested changes to the functioning of Bank Indonesia,
including allowing government ministers a vote at policy
meetings. 
    "Uncertainty around central bank independence may mean that
the rupiah continues to underperform regional high-yielders,"
Moh Siong Sim, an FX strategist at Bank of Singapore, said.  
    The outlier among southeast Asian equity markets came down
to Kuala Lumpur, where the increasingly volatile glove
makers dragged the market lower, and Bangkok, which
reopened following a four-day weekend.
        
    HIGHLIGHTS:
    ** Top Glove Corp and Haralega Holdings
led losses in Malaysa, down 8.5% and 3.9%, respectively 
    ** Japan's economy sinks deeper into worst post-war
contraction, intensifies challenge for new leader
    ** Megaworld Corp and Metro Pacific Investment Corp
 were the top gainers in the Philippines 
           Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0710 GMT
 COUNTRY      FX RIC      FX       FX     INDEX    STOCKS   STOCKS
                          DAILY %  YTD %           DAILY %  YTD %
 Japan                      +0.03  +2.25              0.80   -1.62
 China                      -0.05  +1.92              0.68    8.68
 India                      -0.26  -2.92              0.59   -6.13
 Indonesia                  -0.30  -6.06              0.16  -16.84
 Malaysia                   -0.17  -1.75             -1.06   -5.57
 Philippines                +0.14  +4.33              1.65  -22.79
 S.Korea                    +0.16  -2.53              0.74    9.29
 Singapore                  -0.05  -1.62              0.56  -21.64
 Taiwan                     +0.85  +2.84              0.49    5.55
 Thailand                   +0.13  -4.68             -0.65  -17.49
 
 (Reporting by Nikhil Kurian Nainan in Bengaluru; Editing by
Patrick Graham and Subhranshu Sahu)