SE Asia Stocks-Higher tracking Wall St rally on Trump tax-cut hopes

By Christina Martin

Feb 10 (Reuters) - Most Southeast Asian stock markets rose

on Friday, mirroring gains in Asian shares and on Wall Street

overnight after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would unveil

a major tax reform that would include tax cuts for businesses

and individuals.

Asian shares rallied to an 18-month peak on upbeat Chinese

trade data and strong gains on Wall Street, while the three main

U.S. market indexes surged to new record highs after Trump

promised a "phenomenal" tax plan over the next two or three

weeks.

" promised something spectacular where a new tax

regime may come through, so the U.S. rallied strongly and that

trickled through to the Asian markets," said Nicholas Teo,

trading strategist at KGI Securities (Singapore) Pte Ltd.

Singapore shares rose as much as 0.75 percent to hit

a more than 15-month high, outperforming other markets in the

region.

Financial stocks led the gains, with United Overseas Bank

up 1.4 percent, DBS Group Holdings rising 1

percent and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation

inching up 0.3 percent.

"The three big banks in Singapore which have the biggest

weightage share in the market have led the rally from as far

back as November," Teo said. "We have seen a few broker upgrades

for them and in the next two weeks we will see results from them

and the market is eagerly anticipating those numbers."

Malaysian shares hit their highest in more than 9

months, boosted by financial stocks.

CIMB Group Holdings rose to its highest in 18

months, while RHB Bank climbed as much as 2.8 percent.

Indonesia was up 0.4 percent, with consumer staples

and financials leading the gains.

PT Eagle High Plantations rose 9 percent, while PT

Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero) edged 0.8 percent

higher.

Thai shares rose slightly, while the Vietnam index

hit its highest in one week, helped by financials and

utilities.

Philippines, however, slipped as much as 0.8 percent,

hurt by industrial, real estate and financial stocks.

"The market has been moving sideways but from the start of

the year we have been up, so I think I can attribute this

pullback during the day to some profit-taking," said Jose

Vistan, research head and vice president at AB Capital

Securities Inc.

GT Capital Holdings, Aboitiz Equity and

Megaworld Corp all lost more than 2 percent each.

For Asian Companies click;

SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS: Change at 0425 GMT

Market Current Previous Close Pct Move

Singapore 3099.18 3079.96 0.62

Bangkok 1586.26 1583.25 0.19

Manila 7196.75 7252.66 -0.77

Jakarta 5390.673 5372.077 0.35

Kuala Lumpur 1700.3 1688.5 0.70

Ho Chi Minh 702.96 700.65 0.33

Change this year

Market Current End 2016 Pct Move

Singapore 3099.18 2880.76 7.58

Bangkok 1586.26 1542.94 2.81

Manila 7196.75 6840.64 5.21

Jakarta 5390.673 5296.711 1.77

Kuala Lumpur 1700.3 1641.73 3.57

Ho Chi Minh 702.96 664.87 5.73

(Reporting by Christina Martin; Editing by Biju Dwarakanath)