South Korean shares mark best session in about six weeks Malaysian ringgit rises for 4th day, helped by crude prices China"s Dec factory gate and consumer price inflation ease Jan 12 (Reuters) - Most emerging Asian stock and currency markets rose on Wednesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve chairman said it would take the central bank some time to unwind its balance sheet, with the South Korean won jumping for a third consecutive session. The Thai baht , Indonesia"s rupiah and the Malaysian ringgit rose 0.1% to 0.3%, while stock markets in South Korea (.KS11), Jakarta (.JKSE) and Taiwan (.TWII) climbed between 0.3% and 1.3%. The U.S. dollar retreated overnight after Jerome Powell, at his re-nomination hearing for a second term as the Fed chairman, did not provide any new details on interest rates, while adding that he believed the economy could handle tighter monetary policy. read more But he said policymakers were still debating approaches to reducing the central bank"s balance sheet, which could take two, three or four meetings to decide. "While Powell didn"t really push back on market pricing around expected Fed rate hikes, we"ve certainly seen relief play out across markets," Chris Weston, head of research at brokerage Pepperstone, wrote in a note. Beaten-down tech stocks got the biggest boost on Wall Street, and South Korea"s tech-heavy bourse KOSPI (.KS11) tracked those gains to rise 1.5% in its best session in about six weeks. The won advanced 0.4%, taking this week"s gains to almost 1% ahead of a central bank policy meeting on Friday where a 25 basis point hike to the benchmark interest rate was expected. read more Meanwhile, the ringgit firmed for a fourth day and hit a more than one-week high, underpinned by higher crude prices, with the nation being Southeast Asia"s only oil exporter. However, the Philippines peso bucked the trend to fall 0.4% over similar concerns as the country is a net oil importer with a ballooning trade deficit. In China, shares (.SSEC) and the yuan gained 0.8% and 0.1%, respectively, after data showing cooling factory-gate inflation raised prospects of stimulus being delivered for the economy hit by property woes, COVID-19 outbreaks and a manufacturing slowdown. read more HIGHLIGHTS ** Indonesian 10-year benchmark yields are down 2.5 basis points at 6.422% ** Top gainers on Thailand"s benchmark stock index (.SETI) include Sahamitr Pressure Container PCL (SMPC.BK), up 15%, and Better World Green PCL (BWG.BK), up 14.% ** Singapore shares (.STI) edge up, set to rise for a fifth day as industrial stocks lead gains Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0849 GMT COUNTRY FX RIC FX DAILY % FX YTD % INDEX STOCKS DAILY % STOCKS YTD % Japan -0.04 -0.22 (.N225) 1.92 -0.09 China +0.13 -0.16 (.SSEC) 0.78 -1.23 India -0.10 +0.47 (.NSEI) -0.72 3.29 Indonesia +0.03 -0.31 (.JKSE) 0.13 1.15 Malaysia +0.19 -0.43 (.KLSE) -0.46 -0.67 Philippines -0.37 -0.35 (.PSI) 0.08 -0.44 S.Korea +0.35 -0.14 (.KS11) 1.54 -0.17 Singapore +0.01 -0.09 (.STI) 0.04 3.97 Taiwan +0.10 +0.12 (.TWII) 0.48 0.86 Thailand +0.21 +0.15 (.SETI) 0.43 1.01