* Thai baht hits lowest since Dec 21
* Bangkok stocks hit near 4-week low
* Shanghai stocks down 0.9%

By Echha Jain
       Jan 8 (Reuters) - The Thai baht slipped to a near
three-week low on Monday, extending its losing streak into the
second week of the year, after the country's prime minister said
rate hikes had not helped the economy and called for rate cuts.
    Currencies in the rest of the emerging Asian markets started
the week largely flat while equities were mixed, with investors
globally reassessing their U.S. rate cut bets.
    The Singaporean dollar, the Philippine peso
and the Indian rupee were largely unchanged, while the
Indonesian rupiah ticked down 0.1%.
    Stocks in Shanghai slipped 0.9%, while those in
Singapore, Manila and Kuala Lumpur added
between 0.1% and 0.5%. 
    The Thai Baht depreciated 0.5% to hit 34.935 per
U.S. dollar, their lowest level since Dec. 21. Stocks in Bangkok
 fell 0.9% to post their biggest intraday loss since
December 13.
    Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, seeking to spur growth
in Southeast Asia's second-largest economy, urged the central
bank to consider cutting interest rates as inflation remained
very low.
    Pipat Luengnaruemitchai, an emerging Asia economist at Bank
of America, expects the Bank of Thailand to "disregard the
recent disinflation trend and maintain its hawkish stance for
the time being", adding that the chance of a rate cut would be
high in the second-half of the year.
    Meanwhile, data from the United States last week showed
employers hired more workers than expected in December while
raising wages at a solid clip, casting some doubt on
expectations that the Federal Reserve would start cutting key
interest rates in its March meeting. 
    A reading on U.S. inflation due later in the week could
again alter those views.
    Alex Loo, a macro strategist at TD Securities, said they
suspect moves in the Asian emerging market currencies may be
contained until the inflation data.
    "Asian EM FX may be given a boost as USD bears are likely to
pounce on a weak CPI which should benefit the likes of KRW and
THB which has a higher sensitivity to USD moves," Loo said,
referring to the South Korean won and Thai baht.
    Markets are now anticipating a 64% chance that the Fed could
begin easing rates as early as March, compared to a nearly 90%
chance a week ago, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.
    Elsewhere, the Taiwanese dollar appreciated 0.1%
while stocks in Taipei advanced 0.4%.
    All eyes are on Taiwan's presidential and parliamentary
elections on Jan. 13, taking place against the backdrop of
increased military and political pressure from China to assert
its sovereignty claims over the island. 
    Markets are also looking forward to a stream of data due
through the week, including Bank of Korea's base rate and
inflation data from India and China. 

 HIGHLIGHTS:    
    ** Thai PM says c.bank rate hikes have not been good at all
for the economy 
    ** Iran's oil trade with China stalls as Tehran demands
higher prices
    ** China pushes equity fund launches to support stock market
-sources    

  Asia stock indexes and                              
 currencies at 0415 GMT                          
 COUNTRY  FX RIC        FX     FX  INDE  STOCKS  STOCK
                     DAILY  YTD %     X   DAILY  S YTD
                         %                    %      %
 Japan               +0.10  -2.39  <.N2    -     -0.24
                                   25>           
 China                           EC>           
 India               +0.07  +0.14  <.NS    0.05  -0.04
                                   EI>           
 Indones             -0.10  -0.84  <.JK   -0.29   0.78
 ia                                SE>           
 Malaysi             +0.09  -1.25  <.KL    0.49   2.76
 a                                 SE>           
 Philipp             +0.00  -0.40  <.PS    0.21   3.00
 ines                              I>            
 S.Korea                         11>           
 Singapo             -0.12  -0.88  <.ST    0.10  -1.63
 re                                I>            
 Taiwan              +0.12  -0.81  <.TW    0.43  -1.87
                                   II>           
 Thailan             -0.47  -2.13  <.SE   -0.92  -0.08
 d                                 TI>           
    

    
 (Reporting by Echha Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonali Paul)