EM ASIA FX-Asian currencies subdued in holiday-thinned trade; Indian rupee slips

* Most currencies see muted trading

* Indian rupee slides to weakest in 7 weeks

* Malaysian ringgit slightly stronger

(Adds details on Indian rupee, context, updates prices)

By Ambar Warrick

Feb. 4 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee skidded against the

dollar on Monday, while most other Asian currencies edged down

in muted trade as the Chinese Lunar New Year holidays kept

volumes low.

Many of the regional currencies were unable to shake off

Friday's losses after China's factory activity contracted the

most in almost three years, further fuelling concerns about

demand from Asia's largest economy.

However, the market holidays in the region saw very tight

trading ranges.

The Indian rupee was an exception, losing about 0.6

percent on the dollar to its weakest level since mid-December.

Much of the pressure on the rupee has come from concerns about

the country's budget deficit after the government delivered a

voter-friendly interim budget on Friday.

Economists warned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's

pre-election budget, which includes handouts for farmers and tax

cuts for the lower middle class, is likely to weigh on whoever

forms the next administration.

"In a nutshell, negative investor reactions dominated in the

face of more optimistic than expected revenue projections and

higher than expected borrowing plans, fuelling fiscal slippage

concerns," OCBC said in a research note.

An uptick in oil prices also weighed on the rupee, owing to

India's large fuel bill.

The oil price impact was also seen on the Indonesian rupiah

, which was off 0.36 percent to the dollar. Southeast

Asia's biggest economy imports a sizable quantity of fuel.

Going in the other direction was the Malaysian ringgit

, up slightly on the dollar. The country exports petroleum

products so higher oil prices generally support its currency.

Malaysian markets had shortened trading hours for the day.

The Singapore dollar inched about 0.2 percent lower

against the greenback. Markets in the city state, which also

shut off on a shortened trading session for the day, will be

closed for the Lunar new year holidays on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Chinese yuan, South Korean won,

Taiwan dollar did not trade due to the market holidays.

The following table shows rates for Asian currencies against

the dollar at 0414 GMT.

CURRENCIES VS U.S. DOLLAR

Change on the day at 0414 GMT

Currency Latest bid Previous day Pct Move

Japan yen 109.610 109.48 -0.12

Sing dlr 1.352 1.3498 -0.19

Baht 31.330 31.27 -0.19

Peso 52.340 52.26 -0.15

Rupiah 13980.000 13935 -0.32

Rupee 71.645 71.24 -0.57

Ringgit 4.090 4.094 +0.10

Change so far in 2019

Currency Latest bid End 2018 Pct Move

Japan yen 109.610 109.56 -0.05

Sing dlr 1.352 1.3627 +0.76

Baht 31.330 32.55 +3.89

Peso 52.340 52.47 +0.25

Rupiah 13980.000 14375 +2.83

Rupee 71.645 69.77 -2.62

Ringgit 4.090 4.1300 +0.98

(Reporting by Ambar Warrick in Bengaluru

Editing by Shri Navaratnam)