EMERGING MARKETS-Asian shares rebound, Philippines lags as second wave of virus worsens

* Philippines c.bank sees 2021 economic growth of 6-7% * Taiwan Stocks hit record high * Regional shares track global markets higher By Harish Sridharan April 22 (Reuters) - Philippine stocks slipped on Thursday amid worries the economy may not rebound as strongly as expected from its pandemic-driven slump, trailing other emerging Asian share markets which bounced after steep losses in the last session. The U.S. dollar held near multi-week lows, helping regional currencies firm across the board. The South Korean won and the Malaysian Ringgit led gains as they strengthened 0.2% and 0.3%, respectively. Philippines' central bank governor said on Wednesday that a two-week lockdown of the capital Manila earlier this month will likely slow full-year economic growth to 6%-7%, compared with its earlier forecast of 6.5%-7.5%. One of the fastest growing economies before the pandemic, the Philippines is currently facing one of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks in Asia, and its recovery from a record economic contraction last year is in danger of being derailed. Stocks in Manila weakened 0.8%, while the peso underperformed its peers to trade roughly flat. "The main domestic risk factor is still the pandemic drag," Maybank analysts said in a note. Despite a surging sedcond wave of infections, Maybank analysts still expected the peso to hold its ground for now. Separately, the government said it had priced a 2.1 billion euro ($2.5 billion) bond offering to help fund budget spending. Equities across Southeast Asia took their lead from a rise in global stocks, even as worries of rising COVID-19 cases in some parts of the world remained. Stocks in Taiwan jumped as much as 1.3% to a record high, while those in Malaysia and Singapore also bagged gains. Investors also look ahead to the European Central Bank meeting and U.S. jobs data later today. In Thailand, benchmark bond yields eased 4 basis points to 1.68%. Duncan Tan, a strategist at DBS Bank, said he was surprised by the extent of the recent selloff in Thai bonds, adding that there was likely some uncertainty around demand for "destination bonds" given Thailand's tourism-reliant economy. He also pointed to the Bank of Thailand's (BoT) management of bills and bond flows to support larger-than-usual government financing needs since last year. "In the current environment, where we are seeing supply strains show up at bond auctions across various Asian markets, BoT's active management can be a differentiator for Thai bonds' outlook," Tan said. HIGHLIGHTS ** Thailand's 10-year government bond yields are down 4 basis points at 1.68% ** Top gainers on the Singapore STI was Comfortdelgro Corporation Ltd, up 2.29% ** Chih Lien IND was among the top gainers on the benchmark Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0430 GMT COUNTRY FX RIC FX FX INDE STOCKS STOCK DAILY YTD % X DAILY S YTD % % % Japan +0.08 -4.37 <.N2 2.03 5.99 25> China EC> India +0.00 -2.42 <.NS -0.34 1.90 EI> Indones +0.00 -3.34 <.JK -0.16 0.08 ia SE> Malaysi +0.27 -2.14 <.KL 0.51 -1.38 a SE> Philipp -0.05 -0.81 <.PS -0.79 -10.5 ines I> 2 S.Korea 11> Singapo +0.10 -0.50 <.ST 0.80 11.83 re I> Taiwan +0.15 +1.33 <.TW 0.13 16.91 II> Thailan +0.16 -4.28 <.SE -0.08 8.93 d TI> (Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)