EMERGING MARKETS-Philippine assets remain weak after rate hike; Asian stocks gain on Nvidia beat

The South Korean won KRW= traded steady at 1,381.33 per dollar after Bank of Korea lifted its benchmark interest rate to 3.00% earlier in the session, along with raising its 2026 economic growth forecast. The central bank's hawkish stance along with strong export-led economic growth has helped the won fare better than Asian peers versus the dollar, gaining 4.3% so far this year.

The Taiwan dollar TWD=TP, also driven by chip exports, strengthened to 31.719 a dollar, near its strongest level since late June.

South Korean stocks .KS11 rose 1.5%, and Taiwan equities ended 0.3% higher. Both benchmarks posted a three-session win streak after Nvidia reported quarterly revenue that more than doubled and forecast third-quarter revenue above Wall Street estimates.

The AI supply chain bellwether's results showed no signs of slowing demand for chips, reviving confidence in the AI trade after bouts of anxiety throughout the year. That helped shares of the world's dominant memory chipmakers -- SK Hynix 000660.KS and Samsung Electronics 005930.KS -- advance 2.5% and 1.7% respectively.