Thai baht falls to near two-week low India"s Nifty 50 down 2.5%, at near 4-month low Thai c.bank seen holding interest rates - Reuters poll Dec 20 (Reuters) - Asian currencies and stocks logged significant losses on Monday as investors offloaded riskier assets on concerns over surging global Omicron cases, with the South Korean won hitting a three-week low and the Thai baht nearing its lowest in near two weeks. South Korea"s won weakened as much as 1%, its biggest daily fall since mid-June. The Thai baht weakened 0.5% to a near two-week low of 33.52 on the back of a clouded outlook for the tourism-reliant economy. Regional equities declined as rising cases of the new Omicron variant in Europe and the United States clouded the global economic recovery, with thin year-end liquidity also leading to choppy trading. read more South Korean benchmark KOSPI (.KS11) fell 1.8% to mark its worst day this month, while India"s Nifty 50 (.NSEI) lost more than 2% to drop to their lowest in nearly four months. Equities in the Philippines (.PSI) were down 1.6%, while Singaporean (.STI) and Indonesian shares (.JKSE) lost 1% and 0.7%, respectively. "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. Thai stocks (.SETI) fell 1.5% 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, a Reuters poll of economists showed. read more Among regional currencies, the Malaysian ringgit and the Philippine peso declined up to 0.3%, while the Singapore dollar , Indonesian rupiah and Indian rupee traded flat-to-lower. Asian central banks are charting a different path from the U.S. Federal Reserve to prioritise economic recovery amid a still-benign inflation outlook, analysts at British bank Barclays said in a note. "Most central banks in emerging Asia still prefer to stay accommodative for longer to sustain their recoveries, with Bank of Korea (BoK) the outlier," they added, expecting a hike from the BoK in February, and subsequently by Singapore, India and Malaysia central banks by the first-half. Meanwhile, China cut its lending benchmark loan prime rate for the first time in 20 months to prop up growth in the slowing economy. The Chinese yuan weakened to a 10-day low against the dollar, but recouped earlier losses to trade 0.05% lower by 0647 GMT. HIGHLIGHTS: ** Indonesian 5-year yields rise 3.8 basis points to 5.226% ** Thailand reports first local Omicron case, eyes reinstating quarantine - read more ** Central banks step up pace of their great stimulus retreat - read more Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0648 GMT COUNTRY FX RIC FX DAILY % FX YTD % INDEX STOCKS DAILY % STOCKS YTD % Japan +0.21 -8.98 (.N225) -2.13 1.80 China -0.04 +2.35 (.SSEC) -1.00 3.54 India +0.10 -3.87 (.NSEI) -2.53 18.41 Indonesia -0.12 -2.38 (.JKSE) -0.94 9.38 Malaysia -0.12 -4.78 (.KLSE) -0.48 -8.13 Philippines -0.08 -3.81 (.PSI) -1.48 0.70 S.Korea -0.83 -8.78 (.KS11) -1.81 3.12 Singapore -0.05 -3.42 (.STI) -1.08 8.24 Taiwan -0.24 +2.29 (.TWII) -0.81 19.93 Thailand -0.27 -10.46 (.SETI) -1.45 11.63 Reporting by Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips