(Adds text, updates prices) * Upbeat U.S. data, oil price recovery stoke risk appetite * Philippine peso and Taiwan dollar hit 2-month highs * Rupiah scales 4-1/2-month peak By Masayuki Kitano SINGAPORE, March 3 (Reuters) - The Indonesian rupiah, Philippine peso and Taiwan dollar hit multi-month highs on Thursday, as upbeat U.S. data and recovering oil prices eased concerns about global growth and lifted risk assets.
Asian currencies climbed broadly, with market players attributing the move to the paring back of bullish bets on the U.S. dollar, as well as possible inflows back into emerging market assets.
"It's money going back into EM because of improved risk appetite," said Jesper Bargmann, head of trading for Nordea Bank in Singapore, referring to emerging markets.
"I think a lot of especially hedge funds, are very short of risky assets, hoarding cash and they need to get back in when sentiment changes, and we may be seeing the beginning of this now," Bargmann said.
"The big risk to sentiment is if the Fed suddenly turns more hawkish again, so that's something to watch out for," he added.
The bid rate on the rupiah, which is attractive to investors because of Indonesia's high bond yields, rose as high as 13,233 versus the dollar, the highest since mid-October.
Elsewhere, the Philippine peso and Taiwan dollar rose to their highest levels in nearly two months against the dollar.
Asian currencies and risk assets have risen this week after China's central bank added to its monetary stimulus by cutting reserve requirement for banks, and as improving U.S. data eased worries about the U.S. economy's outlook.
Adding to the positive sentiment, a report by a payrolls processor on Wednesday showed that U.S. private employers added 214,000 jobs in February, above economists' expectations.
Recent gains in global oil prices have helped give a boost to equity markets and risk appetite.
CHINESE YUAN China's yuan firmed against the dollar after the central bank fixed a stronger midpoint ahead of the National People's Congress meeting that will open on Saturday.
Although the yuan has been strong over the past month, most of the negative underlying drivers against it remain unchanged, said Heng Koon How, senior currency strategist for Credit Suisse Private Banking Asia-Pacific.
"We continue to see a difficult transition to a slower growth path for China, ongoing monetary easing, persistent risk of capital outflow and FX reserve drawdown," he said, adding that the yuan was likely to weaken to 6.70 versus the dollar in three months.
Relatively stable moves in the Chinese yuan, also known as the renminbi (RMB), have lent support to Asian currencies recently.