* Rupiah hits lowest in more than 3 months
* China's June consumer prices unchanged
* U.S. jobless claim data awaited

By Nausheen Thusoo
       July 10 (Reuters) - Asian emerging market currencies
fell on Monday, led by the Indonesian rupiah, while equities
were mostly positive as investors awaited U.S. initial jobless
claims data. 
    The rupiah weakened 0.5% to hit its lowest since
March 24. The country's central bank on Friday said it was ready
to intervene in the FX market to defend the rupiah if needed. 
    Hawkish tones from the U.S. Federal Reserve and weaker
economic data from China, Indonesia's largest trading partner,
has increased expectations for a softening in Indonesian exports
and weighed the rupiah down, said Josua Pardede, chief economist
at PermataBank.  
    Data in China showed the country's factory gate deflation
deepened in June and missed expectations, while consumer prices
were unchanged as the country's post-COVID recovery faltered. 
    Analysts at OCBC wrote in a note that the softer CPI is
reflecting still weak domestic Chinese demand and the PPI
deflation underscores the strains on factories. 
    "Looking ahead, in year-over-year terms, we expect China's
PPI deflation to persist in the coming months," analysts at
Goldman Sachs wrote in a note. 
    Market participants are also awaiting U.S. consumer prices
data for cues about the Fed's rate hike trajectory. The risk of
higher global rates for longer has caused havoc in bond markets,
where U.S. 10-year yields jumped 23 basis points last week. 
    "If the market starts to price in for the Fed to hike rates 
beyond July, then it's going to be positive for the dollar
against the emerging market currencies, which will then put
pressure on central banks," said Alvin Tan, head of Asia FX
strategy at RBC Capital Markets. 
    "To protect currency value against the U.S. Dollar they
(central banks) might feel compelled to sound more hawkish than
they are," Tan said. 
    The Chinese yuan toppled 0.1% while the Shanghai
Composite Index rose 0.2%.  
    The Thai baht and the Singapore dollar
dropped 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively. The Philippine peso
toppled 0.1%.  
    Regional stocks were up, with Kuala Lumpur leading
the gains and rising more than 0.6% to post its best intraday
percentage gain in a week. 
    Stocks in Jakarta gained 0.5%. Singapore was
up 0.2%.  
    
    HIGHLIGHTS:    
    ** Indonesia's forex reserves drop to $137.5 bln at end-June
    ** Thai cenbank reserves fall to $218.2 bln in week ended
June 30 
    ** Philippines gross foreign reserves at $99.8 billion at
end-June
    
    
  Asia stock indexes and                                  
 currencies at 0422 GMT                             
 COUNTRY   FX RIC          FX     FX  INDE  STOCKS  STOCKS
                      DAILY %  YTD %     X   DAILY   YTD %
                                                 %  
 Japan                  -0.56  -8.23  <.N2  -0.064  24.05
                                      25>           
 China                               EC>           
 India                  +0.19  +0.17  <.NS    0.16    6.94
                                      EI>           
 Indonesi               -0.39  +2.47  <.JK    0.49   -1.48
 a                                    SE>           
 Malaysia               +0.04  -5.66  <.KL    0.56   -7.36
                                      SE>           
 Philippi               -0.18  +0.09  <.PS    0.09   -2.77
 nes                                  I>            
 S.Korea                             11>           
 Singapor               -0.16  -0.63  <.ST    0.21   -3.24
 e                                    I>            
 Taiwan                 -0.09  -2.07  <.TW    0.07   17.95
                                      II>           
 Thailand               -0.30  -1.66  <.SE   -0.02  -10.70
                                      TI>           
 
    
 (Reporting by Nausheen Thusoo in Bengaluru; Editing by Tom
Hogue)