* Most Asian markets closed from Lunar New Year holiday
* Philippine peso falls 0.3%
* Indonesia stocks up as much as 0.7%

By Himanshi Akhand
       Feb 12 (Reuters) - Emerging Asian currencies and
equities were subdued on Monday, with the Lunar New Year holiday
keeping volumes light while focus was on elections in Indonesia
and the Philippines central bank's policy decision due this
week. 
    The Philippine peso fell 0.3% and stocks
retreated 0.2%.
    The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is set to meet on
Thursday to review interest rates. Regional central banks have
so far remained in a holding pattern with Bank of Thailand and
the Reserve Bank of India keeping key rates unchanged last week.
    The BSP said last week that it deems it necessary to keep
monetary policy settings "sufficiently tight" until a sustained
downtrend in inflation becomes evident, even as data showed that
annual inflation increased at its slowest pace in over three
years in January.       
    The Philippine central bank has raised its benchmark
interest rate by 450 basis points since May 2022, including an
off-cycle hike in October last year. However, it kept the rate
steady at 6.5% at its final two policy meetings of 2023.
    "BSP will probably wait for the Fed to cut first before
considering an adjustment," Nicholas Mapa, a senior economist at
ING, said. 
    "Given however that inflation has fallen sharply due to
favorable base effects and supply side remedies, we do see the
BSP cutting rates shortly after the Fed does."
    He expects the Philippine markets to take their cue from the
region in the near term, with the peso's upside likely to be
constrained by the current account dynamics.
    The Indonesian rupiah inched 0.1% higher and stocks
in Jakarta rose as much as 0.7% to a one-month high.
    Indonesia is set to hold simultaneous presidential and
legislative elections on Wednesday, where citizens will choose a
new president and vice president, a parliament, and lawmakers
among 20,000 administrative posts across the country.
    Most Asian markets were closed for Lunar New Year
celebrations, including mainland China, Singapore, South Korea,
Taiwan and Malaysia.
    Investors are waiting to see what Chinese authorities would
do next to shore up the country's battered stock market after
appointing a new markets regulator just before the break.
    A raft of regulatory measures to defend the stock market
this year, including suspending brokerages from borrowing shares
for lending, curbing margin-lending and other derivatives, and
even getting exchanges to halt selling by hedge funds, have
barely helped. 
    Stocks in Shanghai are down 3.7% so far this year, 
the worst performer in Asia.
    Gross domestic product (GDP) data from Malaysia and
Singapore are also in focus this week, along with January
inflation data from the United States.
        
    
    HIGHLIGHTS
    ** China new bank loans in Jan hit record high on policy
support 
    ** Thailand to establish asset management firm to tackle
household debt - PM
    ** Asian FX bears hold ground as robust dollar, China woes
dent confidence - poll 

  Asia stock indexes and currencies                       
 at 0420 GMT                                        
 COUNTRY   FX RIC          FX     FX  INDE  STOCKS  STOCKS
                      DAILY %  YTD %     X   DAILY   YTD %
                                                 %  
 Japan                  +0.05  -5.47  <.N2       -  10.26
                                      25>           
 China                               EC>           
 India                  +0.06  +0.27  <.NS    0.12    0.36
                                      EI>           
 Indonesi               +0.13  -1.38  <.JK    0.61    0.09
 a                                    SE>           
 Malaysia                   -  -3.57  <.KL       -    3.96
                                      SE>           
 Philippi               -0.32  -1.22  <.PS   -0.17    6.02
 nes                                  I>            
 S.Korea                             11>           
 Singapor               +0.06  -1.93  <.ST       -   -3.15
 e                                    I>            
 Taiwan                     -  -1.99  <.TW       -    0.92
                                      II>           
 Thailand               -0.03  -4.81  <.SE    0.18   -1.77
                                      TI>           
 
    
    

    
 (Reporting by Himanshi Akhand in Bengaluru
Editing by Shri Navaratnam)