* South Korea's KOSPI falls as much as 3.4%

* Indonesian stocks set for worst June since 2015

* Iran and U.S. agree to halt attacks and renew talks

By Rajasik Mukherjee

June 29 (Reuters) - Asian markets were choppy on Monday as

investors weighed AI-driven growth against rising cost

pressures, while keeping an eye on a fragile U.S.-Iran ceasefire

that kept oil prices elevated and the dollar near a one-year

high.

The MSCI EM Asia gauge was largely

unchanged, hovering near two-week lows, while an index tracking

ASEAN stocks advanced 0.4% after hitting a

two-week low in the previous session.

Equity markets moved unevenly, reflecting investor caution

over stretched artificial intelligence-driven rallies,

particularly in South Korea and Taiwan, and lingering

uncertainty about how rising costs could filter through the

sector.

South Korea's KOSPI, which lost 7% last week, shed

as much as 3.4% earlier in the session on Monday, although it

pared some losses to trade around 2% lower.

Stocks in Taiwan gained as much as 2.1%. The index

has gained 56% so far this year and is the

second-best-performing market in the region behind the KOSPI's

97% rally.

"The narrative at the moment is focused on artificial

intelligence return on investment and whether cost pressures are

starting to cascade down the supply chain," said Kyle Rodda,

senior financial market analyst at capital.com.

"Last week's announcement by Apple ... shows that the cost

pressures caused by the demand for raw materials for the AI

build-out are about to hit consumers directly."

In Southeast Asia, Thailand's stock index rose more

than 1%, driven mainly by electronic products manufacturer Delta

Electronics Thailand, which rose around 5% on Monday

and 84% this year.

Stocks in Malaysia shed 0.5%. Equities in Jakarta

slid 0.4% and were set for their worst June since 2015.

The index was also tracking its sixth consecutive month of

declines, with losses of about 4.5% in June.

Globally, the U.S. and Iran traded fresh strikes over the

weekend before they agreed to stop their tit-for-tat attacks and

meet in Qatar on Tuesday, leaving investors nervous about a

fragile ceasefire.

The dollar index was steady at around 101.4,

supported by lingering geopolitical uncertainty, as well as the

rising prospects of a rate hike by the Federal Reserve this

year.

"Across EM Asia, regional currencies are broadly stable,

with the lack of a sustained spike in oil prices easing pressure

on net energy importers such as India, Thailand, and the

Philippines," said Lukman Leong, an analyst at Doo Financial

Futures, a brokerage.

"The relatively muted market reaction also reflects

expectations that any Middle East conflict will remain

contained, allowing investors to refocus on domestic

fundamentals."

The Malaysian ringgit led gains, rising over 0.6% to

4.063 per dollar, touching its highest point in nearly two

weeks. The Indonesian rupiah advanced to 17,860 per

dollar.

The Philippine peso and the Thai baht were

largely flat. The South Korean won fell 0.6%, while

the Taiwanese dollar inched 0.2% lower.

In Venezuela, the death toll from last week's twin

earthquakes neared 1,500 people as foreign rescue teams poured

into La Guaira, the hardest-hit state in a country that has been

long mired in a deep political and economic crisis.

Elsewhere, the Bolivian government said on Friday that the

country would adopt a flexible exchange-rate system, effectively

devaluing its currency by ending a 15-year dollar peg, in a

major policy shift aimed at restoring economic stability.

HIGHLIGHTS:

** Yield on Indonesia's 10-year bonds at 7.182%

** China's central bank offers 300 billion yuan in new

overnight reverse repos

** South Korean president to unveil massive AI and chip

investment drive

** Japan targets more than doubling real growth to over 1%

in economic blueprint

** Singapore's opposition retains Singh as party chief

despite court conviction

Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0433 GMT

COUNTRY FX RIC FX FX YTD% INDEX STOCKS STOCKS

DAILY% DAILY% YTD %

Japan -0.04 -3.18 China >

India >

Indonesia +0.25 -6.66 Malaysia +0.54 -0.17 Philippin -0.01 -4.01 0.80 1.12

es

S.Korea >

Singapore -0.06 -0.65 0.14 11.89

Taiwan >

Thailand >