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EM ASIA FX-Currencies hit by stronger U.S. dollar; Indonesian rupiah slumps

* Indonesian rupiah trades for first time since June 8;

loses more

than 1 pct

* India's Chief Economic Adviser says will resign

* Taiwan rate decision due later in the day

(Adds text, updates prices)

By Aaron Saldanha

June 21 (Reuters) - All emerging Asian currencies weakened

against a firming dollar on Thursday, as comments by the U.S.

Federal Reserve chairman on the pace of rate hikes and a pick-up

in U.S. yields fuelled the greenback.

Treasury yields rose on Wednesday after Federal Reserve

Chairman Jerome Powell said the Fed bank should continue to

gradually raise rates.

The dollar index against a group of six major

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currencies stood at 95.243 after rising to 95.299 overnight, its

highest since mid-July 2017.

Among the regional currencies, the Taiwan dollar

lost 0.2 percent ahead of a monetary policy meeting later in the

day. The Taiwan's central bank is widely expected to keep its

policy rate steady for an eighth straight quarter.

Thirteen of 17 analysts polled by Reuters said they expected

the central bank to leave the benchmark discount rate

at 1.375 percent. Four analysts predicted a 12.5

basis point rise to 1.5 percent.

"Taiwan's sovereign bonds and currency have held up well

through the recent bout of emerging markets stress. This should

not come as a surprise given Taiwan's large current account

surplus, substantial FX reserves and low level of government

indebtedness," DBS Bank strategists Philip Wee and Duncan Tan

wrote in a note.

"As a result, the Taiwan central bank enjoys some level of

flexibility in setting the timing and pace of policy

normalization."

Indonesia's rupiah weakened 1.23 percent on Thursday

as currency market opened for the first time since June 8 as

traders returned from a series of public holidays.

The fall was despite Bank Indonesia saying on Tuesday that

it was ready to defend the rupiah and respond to the U.S.

Federal Reserve's interest rate increase with another hike of

its own.

China's yuan lost 0.27 percent, with the central

bank's fixing rate set at its weakest in more than

five months.

Malaysia's ringgit was 0.15 percent weaker, leaving

it relatively untouched compared to regional peers.

The Singapore dollar and the South Korean won

weakened 0.29 percent and 0.41 percent, respectively.

Thailand's baht slid as much as 0.5 percent on

Thursday to touch its lowest since mid-November as the Bank of

Thailand held rates steady on Wednesday.

Bank of Thailand Governor Veerathai Santiprabhob told

reporters on Thursday that Thailand has a strong external

position and the baht could withstand an impact from global

trade protectionism.

PHILIPPINE PESO

The Philippine peso slid 0.27 percent to move closer

to an 12-year intra-day low seen on Monday.

Thursday's weakness came despite the Philippine central bank

hiking rates for the second time in six weeks on Wednesday and

saying it was ready to take further action to tame inflation and

volatility in the peso.

The country is seeing significant outflows and its equity

benchmark fell as much as 2 percent on Thursday, setting

it on its way to end a sixth straight session lower.

INDIAN RUPEE

The Indian rupee saw a 0.21 percent fall on

Thursday after the minutes of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI)

June policy meeting were released after market hours on

Wednesday.

The minutes said RBI Deputy Governor Viral Acharya noted the

bank's monetary policy committee would keep a neutral stance

because of "considerable uncertainties" around oil, food prices

and trade tensions.

India's country's current account deficit is closely tied to

oil prices. A sustained period of higher energy prices has the

potential to increase food prices, speeding up inflation.

India's chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian said on

Wednesday he was quitting his post to return to academic

research in the United States.

CURRENCIES VS U.S. DOLLAR

The following table shows rates for Asian currencies against the

dollar at 0513 GMT.

Change on day at 0513 GMT

Currency Latest bid Previous Pct Move

day

Japan yen 110.720 110.35 -0.33

Sing dlr 1.362 1.3584 -0.29

Taiwan dlr 30.231 30.170 -0.20

Korean won 1109.700 1105.1 -0.41

Baht 32.930 32.78 -0.46

Peso 53.422 53.277 -0.27

Rupiah 14098.000 13925 -1.23

Rupee 68.210 68.07 -0.21

Ringgit 4.010 4.004 -0.15

Yuan 6.492 6.4750 -0.27

Change so far in 2018

Currency Latest bid End 2017 Pct Move

Japan yen 110.720 112.67 +1.76

Sing dlr 1.362 1.3373 -1.84

Taiwan dlr 30.231 29.848 -1.27

Korean won 1109.700 1070.50 -3.53

Baht 32.930 32.58 -1.06

Peso 53.422 49.93 -6.54

Rupiah 14098.000 13565 -3.78

Rupee 68.210 63.87 -6.36

Ringgit 4.010 4.0440 +0.85

Yuan 6.492 6.5069 +0.22

(Reporting by Aaron Saldanha in Bengaluru)