SE Asia Stocks-End firmer; Singapore posts worst month in nearly 3 years

* Markets post heavy declines for the month

* Vietnam shares snap 9-day losing streak

* Thai Sept trade surplus widens to $1.96 bln from $0.60 bln

in

Aug

By Shanima A

Oct 31 (Reuters) - Southeast Asian stock markets ended

higher on Wednesday tracking a firm finish on Wall Street,

though they posted heavy losses in October, with Singapore

reporting its worst month since January 2016 as global equity

markets bled trillions of dollars.

Financial markets across the globe faced a raft of negative

factors, including Sino-U.S. trade tensions, to worries about

global economic growth, higher U.S. interest rates and company

earnings in the past few weeks.

In Southeast Asia, Singaporean shares ended 1.8

percent firmer, but lost 7.3 percent this month.

Conglomerate Jardine Matheson Holdings Ltd closed

up 0.9 percent, while lender DBS Group Holdings Ltd

added 2.9 percent to the bourse.

Vietnam shares snapped nine sessions of declines to

close 2.9 percent higher.

Banking sector stocks accounted for most gains, with Joint

Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam

(BIDV) closing 6.9 percent higher. BIDV, Vietnam's

second-biggest bank by market value, said it intends to sell 15

percent shares to South Korea's KEB Hana Bank.

Meanwhile, gains in the real estate sector were led by

Vinhomes JSC after the property developer posted a 177

percent surge in third-quarter net profit.

Malaysian shares closed 1.4 percent firmer as

sentiment was balanced on hopes that cost-saving measures will

be included in the country's 2019 budget due later in the week.

The country's newly elected government, led by Prime

Minister Mahathir Mohamad, is likely to announce broad spending

cuts in the budget speech scheduled on Nov 2.

The Philippines market rebounded from previous

session's declines, underpinned by broad gains in the industrial

and real estate stocks.

Thai shares ended firmer on the back of energy

stocks, which gained on higher oil prices. However, the index

posted a 5.2 percent drop for the month.

The biggest gainer on the index, petroleum and gas company

PTT Pcl, closed at its highest in more than a week.

The bourse was further cushioned by data from the Bank of

Thailand, which stated September trade surplus of Thailand was

at $1.96 billion, after a $0.60 billion surplus in August.

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SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS

Market Current Previous close Pct Move

Singapore 3018.8 2966.45 1.76

Bangkok 1664.46 1638.51 1.58

Manila 7140.29 7016.06 1.77

Jakarta 5831.65 5789.1 0.74

Kuala Lumpur 1709.27 1685.94 1.38

Ho Chi Minh 914.76 888.69 2.93

Change on year

Market Current End 2017 Pct Move

Singapore 3018.8 3402.92 -11.29

Bangkok 1664.46 1753.71 -5.09

Manila 7140.29 8558.42 -16.57

Jakarta 5831.65 6355.654 -8.24

Kuala Lumpur 1709.27 1796.81 -4.87

Ho Chi Minh 914.76 984.24 -7.06

(Reporting by Shanima A in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry

Jacob-Phillips)