* Thai baht top loser, weakens up to 0.9%
* Malaysian central bank maintains policy rate as expected
* Taiwan dollar hits over 7-month low
* Russian rouble at lowest level since March 2022

By Nausheen Thusoo
       July 6 (Reuters) - Most emerging Asian currencies
depreciated on Thursday, with the Thai baht dragging the most on
rate hike bets from the Federal Reserve's last policy meeting
minutes, while the Malaysian ringgit was unfazed after an
expected pause in the country's policy stance.
    The Thai baht depreciated 0.5% in a broad-based
selloff, while the shares were down 1.1% as political
uncertainty continued to weigh.
    On Wednesday, data showed annual headline inflation in
Southeast Asia's second-largest economy unexpectedly rose in
June, albeit at its slowest pace in 22 months.   
    "With still no clarity around who will lead the next
government and the recent concerns around the declining number
of Chinese tourists going to Thailand, the baht is currently
under pressure," said Khoon Goh, Head of Asia research at ANZ. 
    The Malaysian ringgit, the worst performer in the
region so far this year, hovered 0.1% lower after the country's
central bank kept its interest rate unchanged at 3.0%, in tandem
with the larger market expectations.
    However, Saktiandi Supaat, head of FX research at Maybank,
believes the unchanged rate will subject the ringgit to
"gyrations in the general market sentiment", adding that "some
retracement or strength in the currency" is expected to emerge
towards the end of 2023 and early 2024.
    Meanwhile, minutes of the Fed's June meeting released
overnight showed the vast majority of policymakers expected
further tightening in U.S. monetary policy, even as they agreed
to hold interest rates steady last month.
    "The minutes offered no reason to doubt that the Fed will go
ahead with another July hike unless data points firmly in the
opposite direction on the economic and inflation side," analysts
at ING markets wrote in a note. 
    The Indonesian rupiah fell as much as 0.4%, hitting
its lowest level since March 30, while the Taiwanese dollar
 weakened 0.3% to hit its lowest level in seven months.
    China's yuan firmed 0.1% after its central bank
offered more reassurances to markets worried by the currency's
recent sharp falls.
    Data on Wednesday showed services activity in the world's
second-largest economy and the region's biggest trading partner
expanded the slowest in five months in June, highlighting the
weakening demand weighing on China's post-pandemic recovery
momentum.
    "(Southeast Asia's) shift from China to other countries in
terms of trade is not likely to put other Asian countries under
pressure in the future," Goh said, referring to China's weak
momentum.
    Equities in the region also slipped. Taiwan and
Thailand fell over 1%, wile Singapore . and
Philippines eased 0.6%.
    Elsewhere, the Russian rouble plunged as much as 5.3%
to 94.5655 per dollar, its lowest level since late March last
year. 
    
    HIGHLIGHTS:    
    ** Thai headline inflation at 22-month low, but c.bank may
hike rate further 
    ** Sri Lanka cuts key rates as expected; more cuts seen by
year 
    ** Singapore's central bank warned on Wednesday of weak
near-term growth for one of Asia's top financial hubs 
    
 Asia stock indexes and                                   
 currencies at 0711 GMT                             
 COUNTRY   FX RIC          FX     FX  INDE  STOCKS  STOCKS
                      DAILY %  YTD %     X   DAILY   YTD %
                                                 %  
 Japan                  +0.62  -8.79  <.N2  -1.70   25.72
                                      25>           
 China                               EC>           
 India                  -0.37  +0.23  <.NS    0.24    7.40
                                      EI>           
 Indonesi               -0.27  +3.42  <.JK    0.18   -1.74
 a                                    SE>           
 Malaysia               -0.17  -5.54  <.KL   -0.41   -7.44
                                      SE>           
 Philippi               +0.07  +0.32  <.PS   -0.59   -1.40
 nes                                  I>            
 S.Korea                             11>           
 Singapor               +0.06  -0.93  <.ST   -0.99   -3.00
 e                                    I>            
 Taiwan                 -0.30  -1.72  <.TW   -1.73   18.56
                                      II>           
 Thailand               -0.54  -1.44  <.SE   -1.33  -10.78
                                      TI>           
 

    
 (Reporting by Nausheen Thusoo in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane
Venkatraman)