* Jakarta stocks hit fresh highs
* Taiwan c.bank says may not cut rates before June
* South Korea shares rise

By Archishma Iyer
       March 14 (Reuters) - Most Asian currencies were little changed on
Thursday as traders awaited fresh cues on the interest rate outlook globally,
while the Indonesian stock market hit another record high.
    Shares in Southeast Asia's largest economy advanced as much as 0.5%
to 7,454.45 points, with the Jakarta index poised for its fifth straight daily
gain.
    Continued equity inflows into Indonesia's benchmark indexes and a
presidential election victory by Prabowo Subianto, promising policy stability
have propped up sentiment.
    Foreign investors have poured in about $1.1 billion in Indonesian equities
in the first two months of the year.
    The MSCI emerging stock market index was marginally down on the
day, although it was hovering near a seven-month high.   
    Globally, market participants are currently awaiting a slew of U.S. economic
data including retail sales - a key measure of consumption - later on Thursday.
    This come ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting next week, where
focus will be on how soon policymakers could start easing interest rates. 
    Markets are currently pricing in a 65% chance of a rate cut in June, down
from 71% earlier in the week, after a hotter-than-expected U.S. CPI gently
pushed back rate cut bets, according to the CME FEdWatch Tool. 
    "The path to a gradually weaker USD could be bumpy and we view this episode
as one of the bumps and opportunity to sell USD on rally," Maybank analysts said
in a note. 
    The dollar index, which measures the strength of the greenback
against six major currencies, was at 102.88 at 0435 GMT. 
    In Asia, the South Korean won slipped 0.3%, while other
currencies such as the Indonesian rupiah, Malaysian ringgit and
the Thai baht traded flat. 
    The Taiwan dollar slipped marginally. The country's central bank
governor said that it may not cut interest rates before June as it could be
necessary to raise the 2024 inflation forecast considering rising inflation. 
    Among Asian equity markets, Bangkok rose about 0.4%, even as Taipei
 and Manila fell by 0.2% and 0.1% respectively. 
    Seoul stocks advanced as much as 0.7% to hit their highest since
April 2022, after the Asian trade bellwether said it would speed up the
preparation of follow-up measures to the government's corporate reform plan.  
    Shares in Singapore rose 0.6%, even as the country's largest telecom
provider Singapore Telecommunications fell as much as 2%, giving up
some of Wednesday's late gains after reports that it was in advanced
negotiations to sell a significant stake in Australian telco Optus to Canada's
Brookfield Asset Management. 
    Elsewhere, India is set to announce its wholesale price inflation data,
which is set to rise by 0.25% on an annual basis for February, according to a
Reuters poll. 
    
    HIGHLIGHTS:    
    ** Indonesia benchmark 10-year yield rises to 6.648% 
    ** BOJ to go slow in hiking rates after ending negative rates, says
ex-c.bank executive
    ** Bank of Korea cautious in final stage of inflation fight
    
    
 Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0435 GMT
 COUNTRY      FX RIC          FX     FX     INDEX    STOCKS   STOCKS
                           DAILY  YTD %             DAILY %    YTD %
                               %                             
 Japan                     -0.11  -4.63                0.00    15.58
 China                     -0.07  -1.31                0.01     2.33
 India                     -0.00  +0.42               -0.04     1.18
 Indonesia                 -0.06  -1.19                0.13     2.17
 Malaysia                  +0.00  -2.05                0.03     5.77
 Philippines               -0.05  -0.01               -0.14     7.84
 S.Korea                   -0.26  -2.27                0.57     2.02
 Singapore                 -0.07  -1.04                0.62    -1.85
 Taiwan                    -0.14  -2.44               -0.23    10.89
 Thailand                  -0.07  -4.19                0.38    -1.84
 

 (Reporting by Archishma Iyer in Bengaluru; Editing by Jamie Freed)