April 5 (Reuters) - Asian stocks saw robust demand from

overseas investors in March, marking their best quarter for

foreign inflows in over three years, amid prospects of

accommodative monetary policies from major central banks and

positive Chinese economic indicators.

Data from stock exchanges across India, South Korea, Taiwan,

Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam showed that

foreigners bought a net $8.53 billion of regional equities last

month. For the quarter, inflows totalled $18.57 billion - the

highest since December 2020.

Last month, the Swiss National Bank surprised markets with

an early rate cut, while the Federal Reserve maintained the

outlook of three cuts in 2024, bolstering investor appetite.

Meanwhile, China reported strong factory output and exports

for the January-February period, signalling a revival in

regional trade.

India stood out, drawing about $4.24 billion in foreign

capital, the largest in three months. However, Indian equities

received a cumulative foreign inflows of only $1.3 billion in

the first quarter of the year, lower than the average $3.08

billion recorded in the first quarters of the past three

election years.

"India is the darling of EM markets with its weight in the

MSCI global index continuing to increase (only second to China

now)," said Alicia Garcia Herrero, chief economist for the Asia

Pacific at Natixis.

"This situation is likely to continue in April as Narendra

Modi is expected to win India's elections without major issues."

Overseas investors also pumped in about $3.82 billion, $1.61

billion and $505 million, respectively, into South Korean,

Taiwanese and Indonesian stocks last month.

"The traction towards AI-related companies continued to play

out in March, which paved the way for net foreign inflows to

sustain," said Yeap Jun Rong, market strategist at IG.

Jason Lui, head of APAC equity and derivative strategy at

BNP Paribas, pointed to the ongoing memory recovery cycle and

new AI-related opportunities following Nvidia's ( NVDA ) latest

chip launch as key factors driving foreign investment,

especially in Korean tech.

Meanwhile, equity markets in Thai, Vietnam and the

Philippines witnessed outflows, amounting to $1.15 billion, $452

million and $46 million, respectively.