* S.Korean stocks hit highest since Nov. 4 * Thai baht at strongest level since Sept. 10 * Chinese yuan hovers at 3-wk high By Arundhati Dutta Nov 15 (Reuters) - South Korean stocks led most of emerging Asia"s equity markets higher on Monday as investors cheered upbeat economic data from China, while the Thai baht firmed after the country"s government upgraded its 2021 growth outlook. Seoul equities climbed as much as 1.2%, hitting their highest level since Nov. 4, while Taiwan stocks jumped 0.7% as data showed China"s annual growth in retail sales and industrial output both comfortably beat forecasts. Investors will now turn their focus to the virtual meeting here between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden later in the day, with hopes of an easing in ongoing tensions across a range of issues including tariffs imposed on China under former President Donald Trump. "Even as tariff reductions are not expected out of the Xi-Biden Summit, there is a lot of expectations for tariffs to ease in the near-term, " Maybank analysts said in a note. "Expectations have been underpinning the Chinese yuan strength on top of potentially warmer ties between the two-countries as both economies face intertwined supply-side bottlenecks." The Chinese yuan hovered at a three-week high against the dollar. On the downside, Malaysian stocks dropped 0.7%, with losses in consumer staples driving the fall. Singapore stocks added 0.4%. The Thai baht firmed by 0.4% and was at its strongest in over two months, while stocks rose 0.5%. Thailand"s economy contracted less than expected in the third quarter, prompting authorities to upgrade the nation"s 2021 growth outlook to 1.2%. The baht was helped by more foreign fund inflows into Thai assets due to a brightening economic outlook, which could be seen from falling COVID-19 cases and deaths, Poon Panichpibool, a market strategist at Krung Thai Bank said. The Malaysian ringgit, Taiwanese dollar and Indonesian rupiah firmed 0.2%, each. HIGHLIGHTS: ** Indonesian 10-year benchmark yields are down 0.4 basis points at 6.196%​​ ** Malaysia"s 10-year benchmark yield is up 0.4 basis points at 3.575% ** Consumer staples drive Malaysian stock benchmark lower Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0501 GMT COUNTRY FX RIC FX DAILY % FX YTD % INDEX STOCKS DAILY % STOCKS YTD % Japan +0.00 -9.32 0.43 8.35 China -0.06 +2.29 -0.29 1.61 India +0.14 -1.71 0.33 29.91 Indonesia +0.18 -1.18 -0.32 10.88 Malaysia +0.17 -3.30 -0.50 -6.37 Philippines -0.24 -3.85 -0.62 2.77 S.Korea -0.07 -7.98 1.02 4.37 Singapore -0.01 -2.28 0.20 13.75 Taiwan +0.16 +2.49 0.58 19.60 Thailand +0.31 -8.41 0.26 13.02 (Reporting by Arundhati Dutta in Bengaluru Editing by Shri Navaratnam)