* EM fixed-income fund inflows revive, while equity

sentiment stays fragile- Barclays

* Apple ( AAPL ) price hikes stokes concerns over AI-driven component

cost inflation

* South Korean, Taiwan stocks suffer sharpest weekly drop

since March

By Ragini Mathur and Avinash P

June 26 (Reuters) - Emerging-market stocks fell to their

lowest in more than two weeks on Friday, dragged lower by a

technology-led selloff in South Korea and Taiwan, while

currencies edged higher as the U.S. dollar softened.

The MSCI emerging-market equities index dropped

3%, putting it on course to end a volatile week in the red.

The retreat came just as investors had been warming again to

the artificial-intelligence trade. Apple's ( AAPL ) announcement

on Thursday that it would raise prices for iPads and MacBooks

rattled technology shares, after the company said it could no

longer absorb surging memory and storage costs fuelled by the AI

data-centre boom.

Reports that OpenAI was considering delaying its public

debut until next year added to the pressure.

South Korea's KOSPI, one of the clearest bellwethers

of the AI trade, tumbled 5.8% on Friday and 7% for the week -

its steepest weekly fall since early March, when the U.S.-Iran

war erupted.

Despite the drop, the benchmark has doubled this year -

making it the world's best-performing major equity market.

"KOSPI triggered its fifth circuit breaker today in the past

four months, out of which two were during the global risk-off in

early March and three in June alone - underscoring a clear shift

in Korea's volatility regime," said Rajat Agarwal, Asia equity

strategist at Societe Generale.

"We attribute this shift to a change in the equity demand

mix toward retail investors, alongside the rapid growth of

single-stock leveraged ETFs."

Heavy gains in South Korean technology stocks earlier this

year have helped lift the broader MSCI emerging-market equities

index, leaving it on track for its strongest first-half

performance since 2009, when markets were rebounding from the

global financial crisis.

Taiwan shares fell 3.6% to their lowest since June

17 and posted their worst weekly performance since early March.

MSCI's emerging-market currencies gauge

edged 0.1% higher as a weaker dollar eased pressure on

developing-market currencies. However, the EM currencies index

was on track to log a weekly decline.

The greenback was set for a second straight daily decline

after Thursday's batch of U.S. economic data tempered

expectations for further Federal Reserve rate hikes this year.

Barclays analysts said flows into emerging-market fixed

income funds had rebounded after two weeks of flat flows, though

the picture for EM equities remained more challenging.

Oil prices, a key import cost for many emerging economies,

fell 2% as supply concerns eased, with more stranded tankers

exiting the Strait of Hormuz, even after a cargo vessel was hit

near Oman.

South Africa's rand rose 0.2% against the dollar,

helped by gains in gold and platinum - two of the

country's key mineral exports. Local equities fell

0.8%.

Elsewhere, Turkish stocks rose 0.1%, while the lira

weakened 0.2%.

Central European currencies fell against the euro but gained

versus the dollar. Hungary's forint rose 0.4%

against the dollar, while slipping 0.3% against the euro.

Regional equities were mixed, with Romania's and

Hungary's benchmarks gaining nearly 0.5%, while Poland's

fell 1.4%.

HIGHLIGHTS:

** Always-on won: Korean dealers fret about risks in

landmark shift to 24-hour trading

** India says 'very close' to trade deal with US

** Venezuela races to rescue hundreds trapped in rubble

after major twin earthquakes

For TOP NEWS across emerging markets

For CENTRAL EUROPE market report, see

For TURKISH market report, see

For RUSSIAN market report, see

(Reporting by Ragini Mathur and Avinash P in Bengaluru; Editing

by Joyjeet Das)