EMERGING MARKETS-Fed rate cut fever propels Asian stocks to record levels

By Sameer Manekar and Roushni Nair

Sept 12 (Reuters) - Equities in Asian emerging markets traded around their record highs while currencies advanced against the dollar on Friday as rising prospects of U.S. rate cuts pushed investors towards high-yielding developing markets.

Equity benchmarks in Taiwan .TWII, South Korea .KS11, and Singapore .STI traded near their lifetime highs, while the MSCI gauge tracking EM Asia stocks .MIMS00000PUS rose for the sixth consecutive day to touch a fresh four-year peak.

Most regional indexes were headed for their strongest weekly gains in months, with the MSCI gauge marking its best performance on the week in about a year.

"Fed easing along with a weaker dollar bolsters the case for EM central banks to expand monetary easing and further supports our bull case for EM equities," JPMorgan analysts led by Rajiv Batra, chief ASEAN equity strategist, said.

Indonesia's Jakarta Composite .JKSE jumped more than 1% to a four-session high, consolidating after the sudden departure of the nation's reputed finance minister earlier in the week triggered massive foreign outflows.

Top banks in Indonesia including Bank Central Asia BBCA.JK, Bank Rakyat BBRI.JK, and Bank Mandiri BMRI.JK gained between 1% and 2% on the day, lifting the benchmark index.

Tushar Mohata, an equity research analyst at Nomura, suggests recent policy developments in support of boosting liquidity could be easing investor concerns over banks' margins after a prolonged period of "persistent selling pressure".

The rupiah IDR= also firmed to 16,390 a dollar, its highest since Monday, while yields on Indonesian 10-year government bonds ID10YT=RR slipped to a two-week low of 6.322%.

In Singapore, the FTSE Straits Times index .STI slipped a shade but remained only a few points shy of its all-time highs. Stocks in Malaysia .KLSE and Thailand .SETI edged higher.

Currencies were largely on the front foot: Taiwan's dollar TWD=TP firmed to 30.229 per dollar, while the Thai baht THB=TH and Malaysian ringgit MYR= were a touch firmer.

The MSCI gauge of global EM currencies .MIEM00000CUS briefly scaled a seven-week high, and was poised for its best weekly gain since early August.

HIGHLIGHTS:
** Spread between Indonesia's 1- and 10-year bond yields narrows to 114.4 basis points
** Evergrande liquidators get initial offers for control of property services arm
** Malaysia reins in data centre growth, complicating China's AI chip access