EM ASIA FX-Asian currencies slip on trade war fears, investors run for cover

* Taiwan dollar, Chinese yuan weaken most

* Currencies drop broadly but yen, gold firm

* Thai, Philippine central bank rate decisions due on

Wednesday

(Adds text, updates prices)

By Aaron Saldanha

June 19 (Reuters) - Emerging Asian currencies slipped

broadly on Tuesday as fears of fallout on the region from a

China-U.S. trade row sparked a flight to safe haven assets from

regional currencies.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday threatened additional

tariffs on Chinese goods in an escalating tit-for-tat trade war

between the world's two biggest economies.

Trump warned that Washington would impose a 10 percent

tariff on $200 billion of Chinese goods after Beijing's decision

to raise tariffs on $50 billion in U.S. goods, which was in

retaliation for U.S. tariffs announced on Friday.

The Japanese yen, considered a safe haven currency in

times of market turmoil, climbed 0.7 percent against the dollar

to 109.795 yen, its strongest in a week.

Gold also benefitted with spot prices rising 0.45

percent to $1,283.62 an ounce by 0336 GMT.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, measuring it against a

basket of six major peers, wilted as much as 0.3 percent to

94.534 on Tuesday.

"Predictably, investors are running for cover under the

haven umbrellas as global equity indices are crumbling under the

weight of an escalating trade war," Stephen Innes, head of

trading APAC at Oanda, wrote in a note.

China's yuan and the Taiwan dollar

weakened, trading for the first time this week. China and

Taiwan's markets were closed on Monday for a public holiday

while Indonesian financial markets remained shut on Tuesday.

The yuan's 0.17 percent drop was surpassed by a 0.41 percent

slide in the Taiwan dollar, the region's worst performing

currency on Tuesday. The currency fell to its weakest since

mid-November in intraday trade.

The South Korean won slipped 0.03 percent while

the Singapore dollar was 0.08 percent lower.

Sino-U.S. trade tensions soured sentiment in India as well,

with the rupee losing 0.16 percent.

POLICY REVIEWS

The central banks of Thailand and the Philippines are

scheduled to hold meetings to decide monetary policy on

Wednesday. While the Thai benchmark rate is expected to be left

unchanged, a slim majority of economists believe the Philippine

central bank will raise interest rates for the second

consecutive meeting.

Thailand's baht weakened again, following a drop of

more than 1 percent intra-day on Monday when a combination of

comments by the Thai finance minister and capital outflow

concerns weighed heavily on the currency.

The minister said on Monday that a weaker baht would help

the country and that he saw no reason for Thailand to raise

interest rates.

Thailand's 1-day repo rate has been maintained

at 1.5 percent for more than three years.

Meanwhile, opinions on the Philippine central bank, Bangko

Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), potentially raising rates are

sharply divided, with the weak peso likely to be the factor that

will tilt the scale.

"The negative feedback loop, where a continuously weak PHP

widens trade deficit which then further suppresses the currency,

could ultimately threaten the inflation target via higher import

prices," Zhu Huani, a market economist at Mizuho Bank, Ltd wrote

in a note.

The Philippine peso held steady on Tuesday, but

remained not far from a 12-year low that it touched on Monday.

The following table shows rates for Asian currencies against

the dollar at 0457 GMT.

CURRENCIES VS U.S. DOLLAR

Change on day at 0457 GMT

Currency Latest bid Previous day Pct Move

Japan yen 109.750 110.54 +0.72

Sing dlr 1.352 1.3510 -0.08

Taiwan dlr 30.126 30.002 -0.41

Korean won 1105.100 1104.8 -0.03

Baht 32.700 32.67 -0.09

Peso 53.326 53.331 +0.01

Rupee 68.095 67.99 -0.16

Ringgit 3.996 3.996 0.00

Yuan 6.448 6.4370 -0.17

* Indonesia closed for market holiday

Change so far in 2018

Currency Latest bid End 2017 Pct Move

Japan yen 109.750 112.67 +2.66

Sing dlr 1.352 1.3373 -1.09

Taiwan dlr 30.126 29.848 -0.92

Korean won 1105.100 1070.50 -3.13

Baht 32.700 32.58 -0.37

Peso 53.326 49.93 -6.37

Rupiah 13925.000 13565 -2.59

Rupee 68.095 63.87 -6.20

Ringgit 3.996 4.0440 +1.20

Yuan 6.448 6.5069 +0.92

(Reporting by Aaron Saldanha in Bengaluru

Editing by Jacqueline Wong)