Updates for afternoon trade

By Rajasik Mukherjee

June 22 (Reuters) - A gauge of emerging Asian stocks hit a peak on Monday, after Taiwan and South Korea benchmarks closed at record levels on AI-fuelled rallies, while regional currencies struggled as investors assessed the U.S.-Iran peace deal.

The MSCI EM Asia gauge .MIMS00000PUS advanced as much as 1.5% to hit a record high. South Korea .KS11 and Taiwan .TWII stock benchmarks make up about 60% of the index.

Taiwan's benchmark surged 2.8% to close at 47,741.51 points, its sixth consecutive session of gains. South Korea's main KOSPI index closed 0.7% higher at 9,114.55 points.

SK Hynix 000660.KS became the world's most valuable memory chipmaker, overtaking Samsung Electronics 005930.KS, underpinned by the growing demand for the chips used in AI systems for customers such as Nvidia NVDA.O and Alphabet's Google GOOGL.O.

"Today's equity trading shows that AI remains the strongest counterweight to geopolitics and higher rates," said Glenn Yin, director of research at brokerage ACCM.

"Korea and Taiwan are being treated as direct beneficiaries of the semiconductor and AI capex cycle, while Japan is getting an extra boost through large tech and AI-linked names."

The first round of talks between U.S. and Iranian officials in Switzerland ended Monday, mediators said, adding both the officials made "encouraging progress".

The development comes after a tense opening marked by Tehran's announcement it had again closed the Strait of Hormuz and U.S. President Donald Trump repeating his threats to resume attacks on Iran.

A steady U.S. dollar kept Asian currencies under pressure as investors remained cautious about oil-import-dependent emerging-market economies.

The MSCI EM currencies gauge .MIEM00000CUS dipped 0.3% for a third consecutive session. The Indonesian rupiah IDR= weakened to 17,825 per dollar, while the Indian rupee snapped a six-session winning streak to slip to 94.405 a dollar.

For Indonesia, a highly anticipated MSCI verdict on the country's emerging markets status in early Asia hours on Wednesday could provide a lift to an under-pressure market or deal yet another blow to Southeast Asia's biggest economy.

"A downgrade would likely exacerbate capital outflows and could reinforce risk aversion, and open the door to even more downside risk for the country's equity and currency," Yin said.

The South Korean won KRW=KFTC dipped 0.5% to 1,539 per dollar, not far from a two-week low. The Philippine peso PHP= also fell to its weakest point since June 12, sliding for the fifth consecutive session.

Thailand's baht THB=TH inched 0.3% lower, ahead of the central bank's policy decision, due on Wednesday.

A Reuters poll showed that the central bank is expected to stand pat on its rates June 24 and through the rest of 2026.

HIGHLIGHTS:

** UK's Starmer says he will resign

** Japan's FX messaging keeps markets on edge over yen intervention risk

** China keeps lending benchmark LPRs unchanged for 13th month in June

Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0805 GMT
COUNTRY	FX RIC	FX DAILY %	FX YTD %	INDEX	STOCKS DAILY %	STOCKS YTD %
Japan	JPY=	-0.26	-3.12	.N225	1.55	43.73
China	CNY=CFXS	-0.07	+3.10	.SSEC	1.78	4.89
India	INR=IN	-0.36	-5.07	.NSEI	0.45	-7.69
Indonesia	IDR=	-0.28	-6.48	.JKSE	-0.74	-29.09
Malaysia	MYR=	-0.39	-2.27	.KLSE	-0.47	1.42
Philippines	PHP=	-0.57	-3.63	.PSI	-1.64	-0.30
S.Korea	KRW=KFTC	-0.58	-6.52	.KS11	0.69	116.28
Singapore	SGD=	-0.25	-0.61	.STI	-0.19	11.54
Taiwan	TWD=TP	-0.14	-0.61	.TWII	2.75	64.83
Thailand	THB=TH	-0.26	-4.48	.SETI	-0.19	24.60