* Rupiah likely to lose 1.3% this week, now flat near 3-mth
low
* Philippines peso and Thai baht make marginal gains
* Mixed trade for Asian equities

By Roushni Nair
       Jan 26 (Reuters) - The Indonesian rupiah is poised to
slide 1.3% this week - its worst week in a year - after reports
that the country's finance minister could resign from the
cabinet ahead of the Feb. 14 presidential election.
    The rupiah, which had been already under pressure
amid political uncertainty ahead of the election, is now on
track for its fourth week of losses. Reports that Finance
Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati could quit has weighed on the
currency further and is seen as a factor prompting central bank
intervention in the market earlier this week.
    "Markets did not take too kindly to rumours of Finance
Minister Sri Mulyani's impending exit, since Indonesia's fiscal
prudence in recent years were credited to her astute stewardship
of public finances," said Nicholas Chia, macro strategist at
Standard Chartered in Singapore.
    Political uncertainty will continue to drag the rupiah lower
given the "long lull between the first round of the presidential
elections in February, a plausible run-off in June and the
inauguration of the winner in October," he added. 
    The rupiah was flat in Friday afternoon trade, near a
3-month low touched in the previous session. Indonesian stocks
 were down nearly 1% and looked set to for a loss of 1.6%
for the week. 
    Other Southeast Asian currencies were largely range-bound.
The Philippine peso inched 0.2% higher and Thailand's
baht climbed 0.3%. Both were, however, also set to log
their fourth straight week of losses. 
    The dollar index, which measures the greenback
against a basket of major currencies, was largely unchanged as
investors remained vigilant, digesting surprisingly strong U.S.
GDP data and its potential impact on the Federal Reserve's
stance on monetary policy when it meets next week.
    A key inflation reading is also awaited later in the day.
    Among Asian stocks, shares in Singapore and Kuala
Lumpur rose 0.5% and 0.7% respectively. But those in
Shanghai fell 0.4% and those in Taipei lost
0.2%.
    MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
 was broadly steady and was on track for a weekly
gain of 2%.
    Indian markets were closed for a public holiday. 
    Next week, investors are set to focus on the Monetary
Authority of Singapore's January policy statement, India's
interim budget and the Philippines' fourth-quarter GDP. 

    
    HIGHLIGHTS:    
    ** Indonesian 10-year benchmark yields remains steady at
6.636%
    ** Philippines posts $4 bln trade deficit in December,
four-month low
    ** Thai Dec exports rise 4.7% y/y, less than forecast 
    
    
  Asia stock indexes and currencies                          
 at 0355 GMT                                           
 COUNTRY   FX RIC          FX     FX    INDEX  STOCKS  STOCKS
                      DAILY %  YTD %            DAILY   YTD %
                                                    %  
 Japan                  -0.03  -4.50            1.26    7.48
 China                                                
 India                  +0.00  +0.11            -0.47   -1.74
 Indonesi               +0.02  -2.67            -0.76   -2.05
 a                                                     
 Malaysia               +0.08  -2.86             0.24    3.64
 Philippi               +0.25  -1.72            -0.01    3.45
 nes                                                   
 S.Korea                                              
 Singapor               +0.06  -1.52             0.47   -2.40
 e                                                     
 Taiwan                 +0.13  -1.72             0.07    0.48
 Thailand               +0.20  -4.17             0.06   -2.75
 

    
 (Reporting by Roushni Nair in Bengaluru, additional reporting
by Ankur Banerjee in Singapore; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)