BENGALURU: Chip-heavy South Korean and Taiwanese benchmarks lifted emerging Asia stocks on Wednesday, while regional currencies were muted with the US dollar near multi-week peaks ahead of a widely expected Federal Reserve rate hike.
The MSCI emerging market Asia equities index gained as much as 0.9 percent.
South Korea and Taiwan, which dominate the MSCI gauge, ended 1.4 percent and 0.7 percent higher, snapping a four-day losing streak.
KOSPI gained on the back of resilient AI-memory demand, a weaker won that supported exporters’ earnings, as well as bargain-hunting in Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix after the recent selloff.
Elsewhere in Indonesia, stocks rose as much as 1.2 percent after losing 3 percent over five days, supporting the MSCI gauge.
Equities in the Philippines fell as much as 2 percent to their lowest level since June 11.
Thailand equities were down 0.5 percent, on track for their sixth consecutive session of losses.
Meanwhile, the South Korean won weakened by as much as 0.8 percent to 1,372.80 per dollar, limiting gains on the MSCI’s gauge of EM currencies that edged higher.
The baht, the Singapore dollar and the rupiah edged lower, while the peso slightly strengthened to 62.663 a dollar.
The dollar index hovered near its two-week high at 99.59, with markets largely pricing in a 25-basis-point Fed rate hike on the day.