EMERGING MARKETS-Indonesia stocks rise as Prabowo poised to become president; Taiwan soars

* Prabowo Subianto set to become Indonesia's next president * Jakarta stocks jump as much as 2.2% * Taiwan stocks rally to record high * Philippine c.bank keeps interest rates steady (Updates at 0725 GMT) By Himanshi Akhand Feb 15 (Reuters) - Indonesian stocks raced to their highest in more than a month on Thursday after Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto declared victory in the country's presidential election, while a tech-fuelled rally pushed Taiwan shares to a record high. Stocks in Jakarta jumped as much as 2.2% to their highest level since Jan. 8. After months of uncertainty, ex-special forces commander Prabowo appeared in unofficial counts to comfortably win the hotly contested election in a single round. Quick ballot counts by independent pollsters showed he won nearly 60% of votes, surpassing pre-election projections of a slim majority. Such counts have proven accurate in past votes. "Prabowo's dominant lead suggestive of an outright victory is consistent with initial relief buoyancy in rupiah and Indonesian assets," Vishnu Varathan, chief economist, Asia ex-Japan at Mizuho Bank, said in a client note. "Initial rupiah cheer is likely to be cautiously reined in, with further upside conditional on delivering economic/fiscal results and political stability." The rupiah strengthened as much as 0.3% in early trade before turning lower. It was last down 0.2%. Other stock markets rose on the back of Wall Street's gains overnight. Taiwan stocks surged as much as 3.5% to a record high as markets reopened after the Lunar New Year holidays, with chip shares leading tech stocks higher in catch-up trade. Chipmaker TSMC soared as much as 9.8% to an all-time high. Stocks in Singapore rose 1%. Equities in the Philippines pared earlier gains and were last up 0.4%. The Philippine central bank kept its benchmark interest rate steady at 6.50% for a third straight meeting, as expected, as price pressures have further eased. The Philippine peso was largely unchanged at 55.96 per U.S. dollar after the decision. Malaysia's ringgit, South Korea's won and Singapore's dollar edged up 0.1% each. The dollar consolidated below a three-month high after U.S. inflation data pushed back bets on a first rate cut by the Federal Reserve to the middle of the year. The market is currently pricing in no rate cut for March, and see a 60% chance the Fed will also hold rates at its May meeting. "We have essentially vacillated between two extremes on market expectations for Fed cuts and we believe that a period of stabilization is to be expected for the market to find its footing again," analysts at Maybank wrote. Markets in China are closed for the Lunar New Year holidays and will resume trade on Monday, Feb. 19. Investors are waiting to see what Beijing could do next to shore up the country's battered stock market after appointing a new markets regulator just before the break. HIGHLIGHTS ** Singapore's Q4 economy grows slower than first estimates ** Tourism-driven Thai economy likely grew 2.5% in Q4 but outlook uncertain ** Japan unexpectedly slips into recession, Germany now world's third-biggest economy Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0725 GMT COUNTRY FX RIC FX FX INDE STOCKS STOCKS DAILY % YTD % X DAILY YTD % % Japan +0.28 -6.04 <.N2 1.21 14.03 25> China EC> India +0.02 +0.23 <.NS 0.04 0.54 EI> Indonesi -0.19 -1.44 <.JK 1.79 0.91 a SE> Malaysia +0.08 -3.95 <.KL -0.04 5.09 SE> Philippi +0.37 -1.02 <.PS 0.40 6.70 nes I> S.Korea 11> Singapor +0.10 -2.07 <.ST 0.99 -2.16 e I> Taiwan -0.23 -2.21 <.TW 3.03 3.98 II> Thailand -0.12 -5.45 <.SE 0.14 -2.03 TI> (Reporting by Himanshi Akhand in Bengaluru; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Subhranshu Sahu)