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REFILE-EMERGING MARKETS-Hawkish Fed commentary douses rally in Asian FX, equities

(Corrects instrument code in sixth graph) * South Korean won, Taiwan dollar lead laggards * Vietnam stocks hit lowest since Feb 2021 * All eyes on U.S. non-farm payrolls By Archishma Iyer Oct 7 (Reuters) - Asian currencies and equities lost steam on Friday, with the South Korean won and Taiwan dollar dropping the most, as hawkish comments from U.S. Federal Reserve officials reinforced the central bank's intention to deliver more rate hikes. Several Fed officials affirmed their commitment to rein in soaring inflation, with no intention of backing down from the most aggressive rate hike campaign in decades. Although some soft economic numbers from U.S. during the week suggested the economy could be starting to feel the effects of the aggressive tightening, other data backed the need for more rate increases over coming months. Surging inflation, higher U.S. interest rates and a slowdown in global growth have prompted a sweeping investment shift towards safer havens such as U.S. dollar-based assets led by treasuries. Markets are now keenly waiting on the non-farm payrolls from the world's largest economy later in the global day, which along with the September inflation report next week could provide more cues on the Fed's outlook. At 0400 GMT, the dollar index, which measures the strength of the greenback against a basket of currency, stood at 112.11. The South Korean won led emerging market currency losses for the day, slumping as much as 0.8% for its worst day since Sept 28, after the Asian trade bellwether reported its biggest current account deficit for August in over two years. The currency, however, is up about 1.7% in a holiday-truncated week. "A sharp deterioration in (South) Korea's trade balance has been one main reason for the recent underperformance of the won," analysts from Goldman Sachs wrote. "A turnaround in current account balances, together with government's multi-market stabilization measures, should help support the currency," they added. The Taiwan dollar fell about 0.3%, though it's up 1% for the week, a day after it reported a marginal rise in inflation for September, broadly in line with market expectations. Higher oil prices couldn't help the Malaysian ringgit , which was off about 0.3%. The nation is set to table its 2023 budget, amid snap election speculations. Others such as the Indonesian rupiah and the Philippines peso fell 0.3% and 0.1%, respectively. Among Asian equities, Vietnam stocks shed the most, losing as much as 3.7% to its lowest since Feb 2021. The index has lost about 28.9% on a year-to-date basis. Analysts from United Overseas Bank say the Southeast Asian country bore the brunt of equity outflows, noting about $7 million of foreign sales on Thursday. Elsewhere, stock indexes across Indonesia, Malaysia , Thailand and Philippines lost between 0.4% and 0.8%. HIGHLIGHTS: ** Indonesia's 10-year benchmark yield rises to 7.221% ** BOK chief says inflation could stay around 5% through H1 2023, warrants rate hikes ** No peace for India's rupee as mighty dollar thunders on ** Indonesia's forex reserves drop to $130.8 bln at end-September Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0400 GMT COUNTRY FX RIC FX FX INDEX STOCKS STOCKS DAILY YTD % DAILY % YTD % % Japan +0.11 -20.6 -0.70 -5.78 1 China 6 India -0.47 -9.65 -0.19 -0.32 Indonesi -0.33 -6.47 -0.63 6.84 a Malaysia -0.28 -10.4 -0.77 -10.09 1 Philippi -0.07 -13.3 -0.30 -16.93 nes 4 S.Korea 6 Singapor +0.00 -5.60 0.29 1.18 e Taiwan -0.30 -12.4 -1.17 -24.64 4 Thailand -0.16 -10.7 -0.54 -4.64 7 (Reporting by Archishma Iyer in Bengaluru Editing by Shri Navaratnam)