EMERGING MARKETS-Omicron weighs on emerging Asia currencies, S.Korean won hits 3-week low

* Thai baht falls to near two-week low * China cuts its lending benchmark loan prime rate * Thai c.bank seen holding interest rates - Reuters poll By Sameer Manekar Dec 20 (Reuters) - Emerging Asia's currencies were broadly lower on Monday as investors shunned riskier assets on concerns about surging global Omicron cases, with the South Korean won hitting a three-week low and the Thai baht nearing its lowest in over two weeks. Most currencies and stocks in emerging Asia traded in the red as rising cases of the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus in Europe and the United States clouded the global economic recovery, with thin year-end liquidity also leading to choppy trading. South Korea's won weakened as much as 0.8%, its biggest daily fall since early September, to a three-week low of 1,190.0 per dollar. The Thai baht eased 0.5% to near a two-week low of 33.52 on the back of a clouded outlook for the tourism-reliant economy. "It appears markets are facing up to the grim prospects of the Omicron grinch hijacking year-end markets," analysts at Mizuho Bank said in a note. Global stock markets fell, with MSCI's index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan down 0.8%, Japan's Nikkei 1.7% lower, while the S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures fell about 1% each. Meanwhile, China cut its lending benchmark loan prime rate https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/china-cuts-lending-benchmark-lpr-first-time-since-april-2020-2021-12-20 (LPR) for the first time in 20 months on Monday to prop up growth in the slowing economy. The Chinese yuan pared earlier losses to trade flat at 0315 GMT. "It is likely that the central bank will wait and evaluate the impact of the cut on economic performance," analysts at ANZ said. "We believe there will be another RRR (reserve requirement ratio) cut in early 2022 amid mounting credit risks in the property sector." In Southeast Asia, the Malaysian ringgit and the Philippine peso declined up to 0.3%, while the Singapore dollar and Indonesian rupiah traded flat to lower. Among equities, South Korean benchmark KOSPI fell 1.5% to mark its worst day this month, Philippine equities were down 1.4%, while Singaporean and Indonesian shares lost about 1% each. Thai stocks fell about 1% ahead of the Bank of Thailand's meeting later in the week. The central bank is expected to hold interest rates at a record low on Wednesday and through next year to bolster the tourism-dependent economy, according to economists in a Reuters poll. HIGHLIGHTS: ** Indonesian 5-year yields rise 2.5 basis points to 5.213% ** 10-year U.S. Treasury yields hovered at an over two-week low ** U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers make case for rate hikes after end of bond-buying taper - Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0345 GMT COUNTRY FX RIC FX FX INDE STOCK STOCK DAILY YTD % X S S YTD % DAILY % % Japan +0.14 -9.05 <.N2 -1.72 2.23 25> China EC> India 0.00 -3.97 <.NS 0.00 21.48 EI> Indones -0.10 -2.36 <.JK -0.62 9.73 ia SE> Malaysi -0.17 -4.83 <.KL -0.36 -8.02 a SE> Philipp -0.14 -3.86 <.PS -1.45 0.73 ines I> S.Korea 11> Singapo -0.03 -3.40 <.ST -1.04 8.28 re I> Taiwan -0.21 +2.31 <.TW -0.81 19.93 II> Thailan -0.33 -10.5 <.SE -0.91 12.24 d 1 TI> (Reporting by Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa)