* Won and ringgit lead losses     * Yellen's testimony seen as balanced     * Dollar's broadly firm tone spills over into Asia FX   (Adds text, updates levels)     By Masayuki Kitano and Aviel Tan     SINGAPORE, July 16 (Reuters) - Most Asian currencies sagged on Wednesday as the dollar managed to hold firm after U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's testimony the previous day was seen as relatively balanced.     Losses were led by the South Korea won  
  KRW=KFTC
  , and the Malaysian ringgit  
  MYR=MY
  . The won hit a 2-1/2 month low after comments from South Korea's finance minister and central bank governor increased expectations of a rate cut.  
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       Data showing that China's economy grew slightly faster than expected in the second quarter helped the won trim some of its losses.  
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       The dollar's generally firm tone seemed to be spilling over into Asian currencies, said Masashi Murata, currency strategist for Brown Brothers Harriman in Tokyo.      "The general market sentiment is that the dollar is starting to show a bit of resilience...and some short-covering is taking place," Murata said, adding that there was some caution toward Asian currencies in the wake of their recent rally.          Against a basket of major currencies, the dollar  
  .DXY
     touched a one-month high on Wednesday.          Market participants said Yellen's congressional testimony on Tuesday offered few fresh hints on the outlook for monetary policy and sounded relatively balanced.     Yellen said the one thing that might prompt the Fed to raise rates earlier or faster is if hiring and wages take off in an unexpected way.      She added, however, that U.S. labour markets are far from healthy and signalled the Fed will keep monetary policy loose until hiring and wage data show the effects of the financial crisis are "completely gone."  
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           "I think she wasn't as dovish as people expected," said Sean Yokota, head of Asia strategy for Scandinavian bank SEB in Singapore.     "It's pretty much been same as what she's been saying before... The data is getting slightly better in the U.S. and if the Fed's posture is remaining the same, if you add those together then it should be slightly dollar-positive."          RINGGIT AND WON      Khoon Goh, senior FX strategist at ANZ, said that the won and the ringgit were among the best-performing Asian currencies this year, and that investors were now paring back on these currencies given the prospect of interest rates in the U.S. rising sooner than expected.      "Bouts of U.S. dollar strength tend to peter out after a while," Goh said, adding it was hard to determine whether this was the start of a long term trend.     "For now it's a shift in positioning that's causing the loss in Asian currencies," he said.          CURRENCIES VS U.S. DOLLAR     *Trading at the Philippine Stock Exchange and Philippine Dealing System, used for foreign exchange trading, was suspended after government offices were ordered to close as typhoon Rammasun hit Manila.  
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       *Ringgit's close is from Monday. Malaysian markets were closed on Tuesday for a public holiday.                                                      Change on the day at   0637 GMT                   Currency    Latest bid   Previous day    Pct Move   Japan yen       101.66         101.68       +0.01   Sing dlr        1.2434         1.2437       +0.02   Taiwan dlr      29.996         30.042       +0.15   Korean won     1031.90        1027.40       -0.44   Baht             32.16          32.14       -0.06   Peso             43.61          43.61       +0.00   Rupiah        11705.00       11730.00       +0.21   Rupee            60.17          60.13       -0.06   Ringgit         3.1905         3.1815       -0.28   Yuan            6.2075         6.2080       +0.01                                                     Change so far in 2014                             Currency    Latest bid  End prev year    Pct Move   Japan yen       101.66         105.28       +3.56   Sing dlr        1.2434         1.2632       +1.59   Taiwan dlr      29.996         29.950       -0.15   Korean won     1031.90        1055.40       +2.28   Baht             32.16          32.86       +2.18   Peso             43.61          44.40       +1.80   Rupiah        11705.00       12160.00       +3.89   Rupee            60.17          61.80       +2.72   Ringgit         3.1905         3.2755       +2.66   Yuan            6.2075         6.0539       -2.47                                                    ----------------------------------------------    --                                                  (Additional reporting by Lydia Lim and Yena Park in Seoul; Editing by Eric Meijer)  ((masayuki.kitano@thomsonreuters.com)(+65-6417-4682)(Reuters Messaging: masayuki.kitano.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))   ((For the new Reuters scrolling global forex service please click  
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     Asian currencies in Asia  
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       Malaysian ringgit   
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    Indonesian rupiah   
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       Singapore dollar    
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    Thai baht           
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       Taiwan dollar       
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     Korean won          
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