EMERGING MARKETS-Singapore, Seoul stocks climb in Asia; currencies mixed

* Singapore, Seoul stocks rise over 2% * Philippines stocks tracks best day in 2 weeks * Most currencies mixed, Thai baht firms * China, Taiwan closed due to holidays By Indranil Sarkar and Savyata Mishra Feb 3 (Reuters) - Singapore and South Korea shares rose more than 2% on Thursday as they resumed trading after holidays this week, while Asian emerging currencies were flat, with investors awaiting signals from central banks in Britain and Europe on interest rates. The Singapore FTSE Straits Times Index rose as much as 2.3% to its highest level since July 2019, driven mostly by its heavyweight financial stocks. "It seems that the movement of STI today may come from anticipation of macro factors such as more monetary easing policies from China to be announced later in February," said Kelvin Wong, market analyst at CMC Markets. Easing tends to have a rather direct impact in Singapore in terms of growth, as trade and capital flows have increased significantly between China and Singapore in the last 5 years, Wong added. Seoul stocks also rose more than 2%, with the main index set for its sharpest daily gain in almost a year, as the market reopened after a three-day holiday and played catch up with the rally in global stocks. In South Korea, heavyweights Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix were among the biggest contributors to the index's rise, adding 1% and 4.2%, respectively. South Korea's factory activity grew at the sharpest pace since July last year as output and new orders picked up, a private-sector survey showed. Emerging Asian currencies were largely a mixed bag, with the Thai baht firming the most at 0.24%, ahead of its January Consumer Price Index data due on Friday. The Singapore dollar and the Indonesia rupiah weakened 0.1% and 0.2% respectively, while the Malaysian ringgit inched 0.1% higher. Policy decisions from the Bank of England (BoE) and the European Central Bank (ECB) are due at 1200 GMT and 1245 GMT, respectively. Philippines stocks deepened losses to fall over 1%, tracking their worst day since Jan 19, with the peso falling by 0.1%. China and Taiwan markets were closed for public holidays. HIGHLIGHTS ** Top gainers on the Singapore STI include CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust up 4.1%, United Overseas Bank Ltd up 3.7% ** Indonesian 10-year benchmark yields are unchanged at 6.4%​​ Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0730 GMT COUNTRY FX RIC FX FX INDEX STOCKS STOCK DAILY YTD % DAILY % S YTD % % Japan -0.13 +0.43 -1.05 -5.4 China India -0.01 -0.69 -0.58 1.86 Indonesia -0.17 -0.90 -0.37 1.54 Malaysia +0.05 -0.43 0.85 -2.71 Philippines -0.03 -0.09 -1.02 3.65 S.Korea Singapore -0.07 +0.08 1.70 5.80 Taiwan 0.00 -0.50 0.00 -2.99 Thailand +0.27 +0.78 0.24 0.86 (Reporting by Indranil Sarkar and Savyata Mishra in Bengaluru)