*

South Korean won up 0.2% after hitting Nov lows on Wed

*

Singapore shares decline 0.7%; Indian shares rise over 1%

*

Malaysia and Philippine markets closed for holidays

(Updated at 0658 GMT)

By Poonam Behura

March 28 (Reuters) - Emerging Asian currencies struggled

for momentum on Thursday and most stock markets fell as

investors chose to book profits ahead of a long holiday weekend,

while the U.S. dollar firmed after hawkish comments from a

Federal Reserve official.

The South Korean won advanced 0.2%, a day after

sliding to its lowest level since November. The Indonesian

rupiah was last down 0.1%, remaining at its lowest level

in nearly five months.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the strength of

the greenback against six major rivals, ticked up after Fed

Governor Christopher Waller signalled there was no rush to cut

the policy rate because of the unexpectedly strong inflation

data this year. It was last up 0.1% at 104.490.

Japan's yen was little changed. The currency's brief

slide on Wednesday to a 34-year low near 152 per dollar

triggered an emergency meeting of Japan's three main monetary

authorities to prevent further declines.

In China, authorities are trying to mitigate the fallout of

the yen's weakness on the yuan, which hit a

four-month low last week. The yuan was little changed at 7.2274

on Thursday.

"Asian currencies continue to take cues from moves in RMB,

JPY and USD. To some extent, there is still lingering

uncertainty on RMB and growing bias that there may be more

weakening in JPY, given expectations for a slow and steady pace

of BOJ policy normalisation (intervention risks aside)," said

Christopher Wong, FX strategist at OCBC..

"Taken together, alongside the Fed in no hurry to cut, Asia

FX may stay under pressure in the interim."

In equity markets, Singapore's main share index,

which is among the worst performers in the region so far this

year, lost 0.7%, reversing some of the previous session's gains.

Thai stocks dipped 0.2% after two days of gains, as

the industry ministry said the Southeast Asian country's

manufacturing output fell for the 17th straight month in

February.

Elsewhere, Indian shares surged as much as 1.1% to a

two-week high. Stocks in Indonesia, South Korea

and Taiwan fell between 0.3% and 0.5%.

Markets in Malaysia and the Philippines were closed for

public holidays. Markets in India, Indonesia, Singapore and the

Philippines will be closed on Friday.

Next week, market focus will be on the Reserve Bank of

India's policy decision, China's PMI data, and inflation data

from South Korea, the Philippines and Thailand.

HIGHLIGHTS:

** Japan repeats verbal warning against yen bears, BOJ keeps

dovish tone

** South Korea aims to be added to World Government Bond

Index this year

** Brazil may bump up 2024 economic growth forecast, finance

minister says

Asia stock indexes and currencies

at 0658 GMT

COUNTRY FX RIC FX FX INDE STOCKS STOCKS

DAILY % YTD % X DAILY YTD %

%

Japan +0.00 -6.78 China EC>

India +0.00 -0.20 Indonesi -0.09 -2.96 Malaysia - -2.96 Philippi - -1.53 S.Korea 11>

Singapor -0.04 -2.15 Taiwan -0.02 -3.97 Thailand -0.22 -6.24 (Reporting by Poonam Behura in Bengaluru; Editing by Jamie

Freed and Subhranshu Sahu)