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By Sherin Sunny

July 15 (Reuters) - Emerging Asian stock markets rose on Wednesday after a surprise slowdown in U.S. inflation reduced expectations for a near-term Federal Reserve rate increase, with South Korean shares gaining more than 8% in a rally led by SK Hynix and other chip stocks.

The MSCI EM Asia index .MIMS00000PUS gained as much as 3%, with South Korea's chipmaker-heavy KOSPI .KS11 advancing 8.2%, on track for its best session since early June.

Gains were led by AI memory chipmaker SK Hynix 000660.KS with a rise of up to 12.7%, while Samsung Electronics 005930.KS climbed nearly 8%.

Softer-than-expected U.S. inflation reduced the probability of a July Fed rate hike, pushing the U.S. dollar and Treasuries lower, while chipmakers Nvidia NVDA.O and Micron Technology MU.O jumped overnight. .N US/

That sentiment "flowed directly into Seoul and the broader chip complex", said Inki Cho, a senior financial market strategist at Exness.

"On top of that, SK Hynix's ADR (American Depository Receipts) SKHY.O surged 27%, and that move telegraphed the Seoul session before it even opened," Cho said.

Volatility is expected to persist, however, due to concerns about a potential earnings slowdown, portfolio rebalancing by foreign investors, and single-stock leveraged ETFs tied to memory chip bellwethers SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics.

"KOSPI has been on a rollercoaster of multi-percent swings in both directions all month, so one strong session doesn't reset the pattern," Cho said.

Taiwan stocks .TWII jumped as much as 2%. TSMC 2330.TW, which is the world's top contract chipmaker and a key Nvidia and Apple AAPL.O supplier, advanced 1%. The stock makes up around 43% of the benchmark.

Singapore's FTSE Straits Times Index .STI rose as much as 1.2% and notched a record high for the ninth straight session, largely on the back of major banks. The index has advanced more than 7% this month.

Currencies in emerging Asian economies held their ground as the dollar =USD remained under pressure from fading prospects of a Fed rate hike this month.

The MSCI gauge of emerging market currencies .MIEM00000CUS inched lower. The Malaysian ringgit MYR= and the Singapore dollar SGD= strengthened marginally, while the Thai baht THB=TH, the Taiwan dollar .TWD=TP, and the Philippine peso PHP= slipped 0.1%.

The South Korean won KRW=KFTC touched a two-month high of 1,484.5 before giving up the gains.

In Indonesia, equities .JKSE gained for a fifth straight day, while the rupiah IDR= traded at a one-week high.

The Indonesia Stock Exchange CEO, Jeffrey Hendrik, said the bourse would add 37 stocks to its list of companies with highly concentrated shareholdings as part of reforms following a warning earlier this year from index provider MSCI MSCI.N.

The exchange's reforms include more detailed shareholder disclosures and raising the minimum free float for listed firms to 15% to boost liquidity and curb manipulation.

HIGHLIGHTS:

** Singapore's DBS targets over $774 billion in wealth assets by 2030

** China's Q2 GDP growth cools to 3-1/2-year low, structural imbalances complicate policy

** South Korea fin min: will be ready by early-2027 for MSCI developed market inclusion

Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0418 GMT
COUNTRY	FX RIC	FX DAILY %	FX YTD %	INDEX	STOCKS DAILY %	STOCKS YTD %
Japan	JPY=	+0.06	-3.39	.N225	1.32	32.42
China	CNY=CFXS	+0.06	+3.23	.SSEC	-0.08	-0.12
India	INR=IN	+0.07	-6.51	.NSEI	0.64	-7.36
Indonesia	IDR=	+0.08	-7.72	.JKSE	0.37	-29.90
Malaysia	MYR=	+0.20	-0.29	.KLSE	-0.32	2.04
Philippines	PHP=	-0.07	-4.57	.PSI	0.93	4.32
S.Korea	KRW=KFTC	-0.08	-3.50	.KS11	6.85	73.86
Singapore	SGD=	+0.08	-0.35	.STI	1.00	19.47
Taiwan	TWD=TP	-0.07	-2.35	.TWII	1.73	57.14
Thailand	THB=TH	-0.10	-6.13	.SETI	0.68	29.96