*

Equities in Taiwan, S.Korea top losers

*

TSMC down 5%, SK Hynix ( HXSCF ) down 9.2%

*

Malaysia c.bank seen holding interest rate - Reuters poll

*

U.S. job openings, jobless claims data awaited

By Sneha Kumar and Sameer Manekar

Sept 4 (Reuters) - Equities in South Korea and Taiwan

declined sharply as Nvidia's ( NVDA ) rout overnight spilled into Asian

tech stocks on Wednesday and investors exited risky assets on a

revival of worries over a global growth slowdown following tepid

U.S. data.

Stock markets in the emerging Asian economies were broadly

under pressure with an MSCI gauge of emerging market equities

outside of Japan slumping around 1.9% to hit its

lowest since the yen carry trade-induced sell-off on Aug. 5.

The index has an aggregate 29% exposure to South Korea and

Taiwan, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co ( TSM )

, the world's biggest contract chip maker, making up

around 9% of the gauge.

TSMC dropped as much as 5.5% on Wednesday while South

Korea's SK Hynix ( HXSCF ) fell as low as 9.2%. The losses

came after the global AI darling Nvidia ( NVDA ) was sold

heavily overnight as investors reined in their optimism about

artificial intelligence and economic growth.

"The harsh sell-off on Wall Street was a stark reminder that

September has a bad rep for wavering risk appetite," Vishnu

Varathan, head of macro research, Asia ex-Japan at Mizuho Bank,

wrote in a note.

"'September shivers' may be exacerbated by recent

(July-August) scars from a conspiracy of U.S. recession risks

and JPY carry unwind."

Jessica Amir, a market strategist at Moomoo, while also

pointing to September being a historically bad month for

equities, added money will return to the market in October once

institutions are done rebalancing their portfolios.

Elsewhere in Asia, stocks in Malaysia, the

Philippines, and Thailand slipped between 0.3%

and 0.6%, with shares in Singapore declining up to 2%

after advancing for four days.

Analysts also pointed to a slew of factors including the

tepid U.S. manufacturing data, with traders now looking forward

to a raft of U.S. data points including job openings, jobless

claims, and non-farm payrolls for clues on the quantum of the

rate cut expected later this month.

Locally, traders are looking at inflation data for the

Philippines and Thailand, retail sales in Singapore, and

Malaysian central bank's monetary policy decision later this

week.

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) is expected to keep its interest

rates at the current 3.00% on Thursday, and will stay there at

least through the end of next year, according to a Reuters poll.

Currencies were largely mixed in the region, with the

ringgit appreciating 0.5% against the dollar, while the

South Korean won and the Indonesian rupiah

adding around 0.2% each.

The Taiwanese dollar lost up to 0.4% in their

fourth session of losses, and was trading at its lowest since

Aug. 19.

HIGHLIGHTS:

** Thai inflation target range still effective, central bank

minutes say

** Indonesia raises $1.8 bln in 10-year, 30-year dollar

bonds

** China's services activity expansion slows in August,

Caixin PMI show

Asia stock

indexes and

currencies

at 0457 GMT

COUNTRY FX RIC FX DAILY% FX YTD% INDEX STOCKS STOCKS

DAILY% YTD%

Japan +0.12 -2.92 -3.69 11.34

China +0.14 -0.17 -0.48 -6.24

India +0.01 -0.89 -0.51 15.73

Indonesia +0.23 -0.58 0.52 5.27

Malaysia +0.46 +5.64 -0.31 14.90

Philippines -0.05 -2.02 -0.63 6.04

S.Korea +0.22 -4.06 -3.01 -2.66

Singapore +0.05 +0.96 -1.47 5.83

Taiwan -0.30 -4.42 -3.94 18.35

Thailand +0.19 -0.09 -0.01 -3.63