*

Indonesian rupiah drops as much as 0.5%

*

Hawkish comments from Fed supports dollar

*

Philippine c.bank seen holding interest rate - Reuters

poll

By Rajasik Mukherjee

June 26 (Reuters) - The Indonesian rupiah had its

biggest daily fall in more than a week on Wednesday, trading

near four-year lows as the U.S. Federal Reserve's

higher-for-longer stance on monetary policy and a slew of

domestic factors pressured the currency.

Most other emerging Asian currencies were also under

pressure against the dollar as a hawkish Fed drags on

risk-sensitive Asian assets. Investors now await U.S. price data

at the end of the week for any change to the rate-cut outlook.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback

against a basket of major currencies, was trading slightly

higher at 105.660 during early Asian hours, ahead of key

inflation print due later in the week.

A higher U.S. interest rate environment supports the dollar,

which in turn pressures emerging market assets.

Back in Southeast Asia, the Indonesian rupiah fell as much

as 0.5% to 16,445.0 per dollar, hovering around its lowest level

since April 2020. The rupiah is also facing pressures from

higher foreign exchange demand from domestic companies and

uncertainty related to the country's fiscal plans.

"Near term, IDR could face further downward pressure. A move

towards the COVID-low of 16,625 vs the dollar cannot be ruled

out," said Christopher Wong, FX Strategist at OCBC.

"Comments (last week) about IDR fundamental value below

16,000, recent worries about domestic fiscal plans and broad

softness in Asian FX complex have further added to IDR

softness."

The South Korean won shed 0.2%. Bank of Korea

flagged possible downward pressure on the won, but assured the

market they would fine tune risk monitoring factors to stabilise

the market as needed.

The Taiwanese dollar lost 0.3% while Taiwanese

stocks soared on the U.S. tech rally led by Nvidia ( NVDA )

overnight.

The Philippine peso traded flat ahead of its central

bank's monetary policy meeting where interest rates are expected

to remain unchanged, a Reuters Poll showed.

"The BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) ... is likely to stay

on hold although we look out for any further hints of

dovishness, which can risk adding to pressure to the PHP,"

analysts at Maybank wrote.

Elsewhere in the region, the Thai baht lost 0.2%

while Thai stocks gained 0.2%. Stocks in Jakarta

rose as much as 0.8%.

Among other emerging markets, the Mexian peso was

trading largely flat during Asian hours ahead of a central bank

meeting.

HIGHLIGHTS:

** Indonesian 10-year benchmark yields rise to 7.097%

** Steady dollar sends yen to the brink of 160

** BUZZ-Falling yuan may tip Asian currencies over the edge

Asia stock indexes and

currencies at 0351 GMT

COUNTRY FX RIC FX FX INDE STOCK STOCK

DAILY YTD % X S S YTD

% DAILY %

%

Japan -0.08 -11.7 % 5%

China EC>

India 0.00 -0.27 Indones -0.30 -6.24 Malaysi -0.11 -2.51 Philipp -0.06 -5.79 S.Korea 11>

Singapo -0.01 -2.62 Taiwan -0.26 -5.51 Thailan -0.24 -7.08