SE Asia Stocks-Most recover from early falls; Singapore at 31-month high

By Chris Thomas

Dec 13 (Reuters) - Most Southeast Asian stock markets

recovered to close higher on Wednesday, with Singapore settling

at its highest in 31 months.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan

rose 0.4 percent as crude oil futures gained

some lost ground.

Crude oil futures climbed after investors took profits

following their surge to two-year highs in the previous session

on an unplanned closure of a pipeline that carries the largest

volume of North Sea crude oil.

Meanwhile, Democrat Doug Jones won a bitter fight for a

Senate seat in deeply conservative Alabama, causing the dollar

to dip from a four-week high, and taking the spotlight away from

the U.S. Federal Reserve policy meeting.

Investor sentiment in Southeast Asia got a boost after

Manila-based Asian Development Bank raised its economic growth

estimate for developing Asia to 6 percent for this year from 5.9

percent, citing stronger-than-expected exports and China's

resilience.

Southeast Asian stock markets had gained 5.8 percent to 39

percent so far this year as of Wednesday's close, with Vietnam

emerging as the top performer.

Singapore shares closed marginally higher after

declining as much as 0.4 percent earlier in the day.

Financials led the comeback, with United Overseas Bank

and DBS Group rebounding from early falls to

close at record highs.

Economists have raised their forecasts for Singapore's

economic growth this year, as they upgraded their views on

manufacturing and exports, a central bank survey showed.

Malaysian shares climbed 0.5 percent to close at

their highest in over one month. Genting Bhd and

Genting Malaysia Bhd were the biggest boost, rising

over 4 percent each.

Philippine shares ended 0.3 percent higher, led by

consumer staple and telecom stocks. JG Summit Holdings Inc

gained 5.2 percent, while PLDT Inc climbed 1.5

percent.

Vietnam shares gave up early gains to close 0.3

percent lower, with Vietcombank declining 1.6 percent.

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SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS:

Change on day

Market Current Previous close Pct Move

Singapore 3468.77 3465.54 0.09

Bangkok 1706.93 1702.17 0.28

Manila 8359.61 8334.06 0.31

Jakarta 6054.604 6032.371 0.37

Kuala Lumpur 1737.66 1729.57 0.47

Ho Chi Minh 924.4 927.25 -0.31

Change on year

Market Current End 2016 Pct Move

Singapore 3468.77 2880.76 20.41

Bangkok 1706.93 1542.94 10.63

Manila 8359.61 6840.64 22.21

Jakarta 6054.604 5296.711 14.31

Kuala Lumpur 1737.66 1641.73 5.84

Ho Chi Minh 924.4 664.87 39.03

(Reporting by Chris Thomas in Bengaluru; Additional reporting

by Sandhya Sampath; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)