RPT-EMERGING MARKETS-Asian FX decline on growing Fed rate hike bets

(.) * S.Korean won leads losses among Asia FX * Markets await raft of Chinese data, BI rate decision * Philippine peso hits lowest level since Jan. 6 By Harish Sridharan April 17 (Reuters) - Asian currencies broadly declined against a firmer dollar on Monday, on increased expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will raise interest rates at its May meeting. The South Korean won fell 1% in its biggest single-day drop in two weeks, while the Malaysian ringgit , Indonesian rupiah and Philippine peso weakened between 0.4% and 0.6%. Data last week showed a resilience in core U.S. retail sales and a rise in short-term inflation expectations, which have led markets to raise the likelihood of a Fed hike at its next meeting. Money markets are now pricing in an 81.4% chance that the Fed will hike rates by 25 basis points next month, compared to 69% last week. In Asia, a slew of Chinese economic data due on Tuesday will provide some insight on how the end of China's strict zero-COVID curbs have helped recovery in the world's second-largest economy. Chinese blue chips added 1%, while the broader index rose 1.1%. Meanwhile, the Philippine peso depreciated 0.6% to hit its lowest level since January 6, hurt by speculation that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will likely keep interest rates unchanged at its next meeting. In a speech delivered in Washington last week, BSP Governor Felipe Medalla said that the central bank could pause its rate hike cycle at its meeting next month due to easing inflation. He re-iterated this message in a tweet on Saturday. "Should April inflation also fall below 0.3 percent like Feb and Mar, that would make for three target-consistent MoM (month-on-month) inflation data points. If that happens, we may consider pausing and keeping our monetary settings steady at our May meeting," he tweeted. Emerging markets such as South Korea, Singapore and India have recently paused sustained policy tightening campaigns as growth concerns take precedence over high inflation. This list is expected to grow longer, with Bank Indonesia set to keep its key interest rate unchanged at 5.75% for a third consecutive meeting on Tuesday, according to a Reuters poll. "While the Fed is likely to keep raising its policy rate this year, BI is primarily focused on core inflation, not the IDR, in its post-pandemic normalisation cycle," analysts at Barclays said in a note. Meanwhile, Singapore's March non-oil domestic exports shrank 8.3%, though the drop was smaller than the previous month and less than forecast. Stocks were up 0.2%, while the local dollar weakened 0.1%. HIGHLIGHTS ** In the Philippines, BDO Unibank Inc fell 2.7% to top losses ** Thai PM Prayuth lagged rivals in opinion polls ahead of May election Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0606 GMT COUNTRY FX RIC FX FX INDEX STOCK STOCK DAILY YTD % S S YTD % DAILY % % Japan -0.07 -2.06 0.17 9.37 China -0.03 +0.42 1.03 9.17 India -0.13 +0.93 -1.03 -2.54 Indonesia -0.58 +5.31 -0.63 -1.09 Malaysia -0.36 -0.36 -0.36 -4.38 Philippines -0.59 +0.00 -0.28 -1.57 S.Korea -0.98 -3.61 0.05 15.04 Singapore -0.10 +0.66 0.20 1.78 Taiwan -0.08 +0.71 0.21 12.91 Thailand -0.25 +0.79 0.47 -4.11 (Reporting by Harish Sridharan in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)