* Taiwan stocks hit record high; KOSPI surges more than

3.5%

* Taiwan's TSMC rises to record

* Indonesia's rupiah hits all-time low

(Updates for afternoon trade)

By Rajasik Mukherjee

April 15 (Reuters) - Emerging Asian stocks rallied to

their highest in more than six weeks on Wednesday as hopes for a

resumption of U.S.-Iran peace talks lifted investor appetite for

risky assets, while Indonesia's rupiah hit a fresh record low.

U.S. President Donald Trump said talks with Iran could

resume in Pakistan over the next two days after negotiations

over the weekend collapsed and Washington imposed a blockade on

Iranian ports.

Signs of diplomatic engagement calmed markets, sent oil

prices firmly below $100 a barrel, and pushed the MSCI gauge of

EM Asia equities up more than 2% to its highest

since March 2.

A broader gauge of global EM stocks advanced 1.7%,

also scaling its highest since early March.

Glenn Yin, director of research at brokerage ACCM, said

stocks in the region were benefiting from growing bets on a

peace deal, as investors reassessed risks around a key global

energy chokepoint.

Still, a geopolitical risk premium remains, Yin said.

South Korea's KOSPI led the rally in the region,

advancing as much as 3.6% to the highest since late February,

while stocks in Taipei hit a record high of 37,064.16

points. Taiwan's tech-heavy benchmark gauge has surged more than

10% over the last seven sessions.

Stocks in Singapore added as much as 0.6%, hitting

their highest since February 23, a day after the local central

bank unexpectedly tightened monetary policy.

Equities in Manila rose 1% while those in Malaysia

shed 0.3%.

The U.S. halting trade going in and out of Iran by sea put

pressure on the net oil importers in emerging Asia.

Indonesia's rupiah sank to a record low of 17,145 per

U.S. dollar with the currency down nearly 1% over the last five

sessions.

The rupiah is "facing structural pressures with persistent

outflow from Indonesian bonds and the strong greenback (being)

the key culprits," Yin said, as the U.S. shutting down Iran's

maritime trade was "another straw on the already fragile

rupiah."

A quarter of Indonesia's ​crude oil imports come from the

Middle East.

The Philippine peso shed as much as 0.4% while the

Thai baht weakened as much as 0.2% to a one-week low.

Among other regional currencies, the Taiwan dollar

managed to eke out marginal gains of 0.2% while the Malaysian

ringgit pared back its early gains to trade flat.

Thailand's equity market was closed for a holiday.

HIGHLIGHTS:

** Gold slips from one-month high on firmer dollar; U.S.-Iran

talks in focus

** Fujimori leads first round of Peru presidential election as

vote count drags on

** Oil mixed as Middle East supply uncertainty outweighs hopes

for U.S.-Iran talks

Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0727 GMT

Japan -0.09 -1.43

0.44 15.48

China India -0.01 -3.76 1.60 -7.29

Indonesi -0.18 -2.74 0.22 -11.04

a

Malaysia +0.03 +2.74 -0.35 0.12

Philippi -0.43 -2.12 0.84 0.17

nes

S.Korea Singapor +0.01 +1.13 0.20 7.99

e

Taiwan +0.14 -0.65 1.17 26.79

Thailand -0.12 -1.72 19.62

-

(Reporting by Rajasik Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Kate

Mayberry and Mrigank Dhaniwala)