* Philippine stocks, peso continue poor form * Indonesian rupiah eases a day after c.bank holds rates * Asia"s virus troubles keeping risk sentiment in check - analysts * Japan equity markets were closed for a holiday By Anushka Trivedi July 23 (Reuters) - Philippine stocks led losses among Asian equities on Friday as the severe virus outbreaks in the region amid a slow pace of vaccination kept investors on the sidelines, with the negative sentiment spilling over to the currency markets. Manila"s stock index slid 1.6%, followed by Jakarta , Bangkok and Singapore shares as they fell between 0.2% and 0.6%. Their currencies,, , traded flat to lower despite a softer dollar. Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia are currently the worst hit as COVID-19 cases in those countries spike despite being under harsh lockdowns, but investors have been exiting Philippine markets in droves in the wake of its drastic economic contraction in 2020. Philippine shares are down 3.4% this week and the equity outflows have pressured the peso, causing a 0.6% drop on Friday. "Asia stocks look set for a muted start...COVID-19 cases continue to be a key risk for Asia Pacific, with multiple countries battling recent surges such as Thailand, Myanmar, South Korea and Malaysia," said Yeap Jun Rong, market strategist at IG. "Fresh lockdowns and restrictions may generally linger, impacting domestic demand and inter-border travel." Philippines extended travel ban to include Malaysia and Thailand, and tightened curbs in the Manila area, while the tourism and trade dependant Bangkok continued to suffer from border closures. Thai stocks are 2.6% weaker on a month-to-date basis. Analysts were slightly upbeat on Singapore as it is far ahead in terms of vaccinations and they expected its shares to outperform in the fourth-quarter. Indonesia"s rupiah eased slightly a day after the central bank held rates steady and sounded optimistic about the country"s growth outlook. However, the market view on it differed, with Societe Generale economist Kunal Kundu expecting fiscal 2021 growth to come in at 4% or lower but most analysts do not forecast any rate cuts this year by BI as it could lead to pressure on the rupiah. "Despite an easy monetary policy stance, the transmission through both the interest rate and credit growth channel remains extremely muted," Kundu said. Fiscal policy needs to aid easy monetary policy. Hence, BI needs to go big on monetary financing while the government needs to spend on infrastructure and provide job support, he added. HIGHLIGHTS ** Top index losers on Manila: Bloomberry Resorts Corp down 4.3% and Jollibee Foods Corp down 3.3% ** Top losers on Thailand"s SETI: Thai Textile Industry PCL down 9.5% and TWZ Corp down 9.1% ** Indonesian 3-year benchmark yields are up 4 basis points at 4.491% Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0409 GMT COUNTRY FX RIC FX DAILY % FX YTD % INDEX STOCKS DAILY % STOCKS YTD % Japan -0.10 -6.36 0.00 0.38 China -0.03 +0.87 -0.65 2.26 India +0.00 -1.87 0.27 13.48 Indonesia -0.07 -3.11 -0.66 1.98 Malaysia -0.01 -4.78 -0.13 -6.24 Philippines -0.56 -4.57 -1.59 -9.36 S.Korea +0.05 -5.49 0.04 13.16 Singapore -0.02 -2.87 -0.20 10.87 Taiwan -0.00 +1.66 -0.05 19.22 Thailand -0.18 -8.99 -0.41 6.67 (Reporting by Anushka Trivedi in Bengaluru; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore) Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.