* All Asian FX trading higher
* Rupiah hits over 8-week high
* U.S. dollar at over 2-month low
* Equities largely up

By Roushni Nair
       Nov 20 (Reuters) - Southeast Asian currencies rose on
Monday, with the Indonesian rupiah and South Korean won leading
the charge, as prospects of a potential end to U.S. interest
rate hikes led to weakness in the greenback. 
    The South Korean won advanced as much as 0.9%,
and the unit is trading at its highest level since Aug. 1.  
    The Indonesian rupiah and Taiwanese dollar
strengthened as much as 0.6% each, the rupiah marking its
highest level since Sept. 22. 
    The U.S. dollar has lost steam, giving up gains it made
earlier this year as the steep decline in U.S. Treasury yields
since the start of November continued following economic data
that suggested inflation is cooling, boosting expectations that
the Federal Reserve is near the end of its rate-hiking cycle.
    Meanwhile, minutes of the Federal Reserve's last meeting
held on Nov. 1 to be released on Tuesday will offer some color
on policymakers' thinking as they held rates steady for a second
time. The next policy meeting will be held on Dec. 12-13.  
    The dollar index, which measures the greenback
against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.21% to 103.62 by 0454
GMT. 
    "Until we get some more data underscoring the U.S. economy's
resilience, the dollar is likely to remain vulnerable. EM and
other risk assets should perform well near-term," Win Thin,
Global Head of Currency Strategy at BBH Global said in a note.
    Even as market reaction has been limited, there were
unconfirmed media reports Israel, the United States and Hamas
had reached a tentative agreement to free dozens of hostages in
Gaza in exchange for a five-day pause in fighting. 
    Back in Asia, the Chinese yuan advanced more than
0.5% as the unit was nudged higher by the central bank. 
    China left benchmark lending rates unchanged at a monthly
fixing, matching expectations, as a weaker yuan continued to
limit further monetary easing.
    The Philippine peso, Malaysian ringgit and the
Singapore dollar appreciated over 0.2% each.  
    Most equities in the region also traded higher, with shares
in Seoul adding over 1%, while stocks in Singapore
 and Shanghai surged over 0.5% each.
    Separately, Argentina elected right-wing libertarian Javier
Milei as its new president on Sunday, rolling the dice on an
outsider with radical views to fix an economy battered by
triple-digit inflation, a looming recession and rising poverty.
    In Taiwan, a potential joint bid by the island's two main
opposition parties was in disarray as they bickered on how to
agree on who will run for president with time running out to
make a decision.
    News of Kuomintang and the Taiwan People's Party's progress
on a joint presidential bid last week pushed the Taiwan dollar
to its strongest weekly rally in a year on expectations of an
easing of Taiwan-China tensions if they won.

    HIGHLIGHTS:    
    ** Thai Q3 GDP growth disappoints, missing forecasts amid
weak exports
    ** Malaysia's October exports fall 4.4% on-year, less than
forecast -
    
  Asia stock indexes and currencies                          
 at 0516 GMT                                           
 COUNTRY   FX RIC          FX     FX    INDEX  STOCKS  STOCKS
                      DAILY %  YTD %            DAILY   YTD %
                                                    %  
 Japan                  +0.45  -11.9           -0.51   29.94
                                   8                   
 China                                                
 India                  +0.01  -0.65             0.08    9.08
 Indonesi               +0.55  +1.04             0.17    2.03
 a                                                     
 Malaysia               +0.28  -5.68            -0.33   -2.65
 Philippi               +0.18  +0.38            -0.32   -5.70
 nes                                                   
 S.Korea                                              
 Singapor               +0.16  -0.05            -0.43   -4.31
 e                                                     
 Taiwan                 +0.60  -3.03            -0.08   21.62
 Thailand               +0.06  -1.35             0.13  -15.05
 

    

    
 (Reporting by Roushni Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Stephen
Coates)