SE Asia Stocks-Indonesia slips post Jakarta polls; Philippines rebounds

By Geo Tharappel

Feb 16 (Reuters) - The Indonesian stock index was marginally

lower on Thursday, after the much-watched first round election

for Jakarta governor produced no clear outcome, while most other

Southeast Asian markets rose in line with Asian peers.

Unofficial sample vote counts pointed to a second round

between the incumbent Basuki Tjahaja Purnama and Anies Baswedan,

a Muslim former education minister, after neither appeared to

win a majority in Wednesday's election.

"While this result might not be surprising, what was

interesting to see was the vote difference between the two was

quite thin, only around 2-3 percent", said Pandu Anugrah of

Maybank KimEng Securities in Jakarta.

The Jakarta poll has been overshadowed by religious

tensions, with Islamist-led protests against Governor Purnama,

an ethnic Chinese Christian, and calls for voters to choose a

Muslim leader for the city. Purnama is backed by President Joko

Widodo's ruling party, and the poll is widely seen as a proxy

battle for the 2019 presidential election.

The Jakarta SE Composite index, which fell as much

as 0.4 percent, recouped some losses after data showed that the

country's January exports surged more than expected on rising

commodity prices.

Indonesia's PT Bank Mandiri Tbk fell as much as

4.6 percent, its biggest intraday percentage drop in 12 weeks.

The biggest Indonesian bank by assets reported a 32 percent drop

in its 2016 net profit to the lowest in five years, after market

close on Tuesday.

Indonesian markets were closed on Wednesday for the Jakarta

poll.

Philippine shares surged as much as 1.6 percent,

their biggest intraday jump since Jan. 23, led by industrials

and financials.

"There is a technical rebound from yesterday's losses... as

of now we have net foreign buying of 270 million pesos ($5.4

million), which bucks the trend from the past trading session,"

said Victor Felix, equity analyst at AB Capital Securities.

Philippine conglomerate SM Investments Corp gained

as much as 3.5 percent to record its biggest intraday jump in

more than three weeks.

Vietnam shares gained as much as 0.6 percent to a hit

a nine-year high. The index was on track for its fifth straight

session of gains, led by financials and consumer staples.

Vietcombank and Saigon Beer Alcohol Beverage Corp

were each up about 1 percent.

For Asian Companies click;

SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS 0455 GMT

Market Current prev close Pct Move

Singapore 3088.78 3088.48 0.01

Bangkok 1577.33 1573.37 0.25

Manila 7291.32 7174.3 1.63

Jakarta 5377.512 5380.67 -0.06

Kuala Lumpur 1706.73 1709.79 -0.18

Ho Chi Minh 715.85 711.57 0.60

Change this year

Market Current End 2016 Pct Move

Singapore 3088.78 2880.76 7.22

Bangkok 1577.33 1542.94 2.23

Manila 7291.32 6840.64 6.59

Jakarta 5377.512 5296.711 1.53

Kuala Lumpur 1706.73 1641.73 3.96

Ho Chi Minh 715.85 664.87 7.67

($1 = 49.9490 Philippine pesos)

(Reporting by Geo Tharappel in Bengaluru; Additional reporting

by Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by Amrutha Gayathri)