* South Korean won logs weakest day since March 5

* South Korea's KOSPI rises 1%, Taiwan stocks hit record

* Bank Indonesia expected to hold rates on Wednesday - Reuters poll

By Rajasik Mukherjee

April 20 (Reuters) - Emerging Asian currencies slid on Monday, with South Korea's won weakening the most in more than six weeks, as rising tensions in the Middle East kept transit through the Strait of Hormuz to a minimum, sapping appetite for oil-exposed Asian assets.

The South Korean won fell as much as 1.3% on the day, touching 1,479.5 against the U.S. dollar, in its worst trading day since March 5.

The currency also extended its decline to more than 2% so far this year, making it one of the worst-performing currencies in emerging Asia.

On Sunday, South Korea's finance minister and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said excessive volatility in the won was undesirable and agreed to continue consultations on foreign exchange markets.

In Southeast Asia, the Philippine peso shed 0.7%, while the Thai baht lost around 0.5% to hover around the 32 level against the U.S. dollar.

"The markets are set for a spicy start to the week, with initial moves in futures and FX violent," said Kyle Rodda, senior financial market analyst at Capital.com.

"Tensions about the control and closure of the Strait of Hormuz have flared again, threatening peace talks between the U.S. and Iran ... the markets are back to being driven by headline risk and the two-way volatility that comes with it."

U.S. President Donald Trump said earlier his team would arrive in Pakistan on Monday evening, one day before a two-week ceasefire is due to end.

The U.S. has maintained a blockade of Iranian ports, while Iran has lifted and then reimposed its own blockade on marine traffic passing through the Strait of Hormuz, which handled about one-fifth of the world's oil supply before the war.

Elsewhere in the region, the Singapore dollar lost 0.2% while the Indonesian rupiah eked out marginal gains in early trade.

The rupiah has been struggling for a while now, having lost nearly 3% so far this year - making it the second-worst-performing currency in emerging Asia, behind India's rupee.

Markets will also be keeping a close eye on Bank Indonesia's policy meeting on Wednesday, where the central bank is expected to keep rates unchanged amid the Middle East crisis.

The Taiwan dollar and the Indian rupee both rose around 0.3%.

Equities resumed their upward trend following Friday's dip.

The MSCI gauge of EM Asia equities gained as much as 1.3%, hitting its highest level since February 27, while the broader global EM equities index added nearly 1%.

"Equities are telling a different story because the market is looking through the geopolitical noise toward earnings and structural growth drivers," said Inki Cho, financial market strategist at Exness.

"The market is effectively saying, geopolitical risk premium on energy is temporary, but the AI infrastructure build-out is structural and multi-year."

South Korea's KOSPI rose as much as 1.4%, hitting its highest level since February 27.

Taiwan's tech-heavy index gained nearly 1.5% to a fresh record high of 37,344 points.

Stocks in the Philippines added more than 1% while those in Indonesia rose 0.6%.

Thailand stocks were the only outlier in the region, falling 0.5%.

In Europe, Rumen Radev, a pro-Russian former Bulgarian president, was leading in Sunday's parliamentary election, potentially ending years of weak coalition governments and altering the European Union member's foreign policy.

HIGHLIGHTS:

** South Korea's Lee to seek big boost in economic ties in summit with India's Modi

** China leaves lending benchmarks unchanged for 11th month in April

** World weighs fate of Mideast ceasefire after US seizes Iranian cargo ship

Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0342 GMT

COUNTRY FX RIC FX DAILY FX YTD INDEX STOCKS STOCKS

% % DAILY YTD %

%

Japan -0.14 -1.37 China >

India +0.21 -3.08 Indonesia +0.06 -2.91 Malaysia -0.05 +2.63 Philippine -0.66 -2.00 1.29 0.39

s

S.Korea >

Singapore -0.13 +1.12 0.19 7.77

Taiwan +0.38 -0.12 Thailand -0.61 -2.01