SE Asia Stocks - Most retreat; Singapore near two-week high

BANGKOK, March 20 (Reuters) - Most major Southeast Asian

stock markets fell on Friday, reversing the previous day's gains

in reaction to a dovish U.S. central bank, but the Singapore

benchmark rose to a near two-week high amid buying in select

dividend-yielding large caps.

Singapore's key Straits Times Index traded up 0.6

percent at 3,406.94, the highest since March 10. Shares of

Singapore Telecommunications, the most actively traded

by turnover, gained 1 percent to their highest since Feb. 27.

The index is on track to post a weekly gain of 1.3 percent

after the prior week's loss.

In Bangkok, investors booked profits in telecoms shares such

as Advanced Info Service, pulling the broader SET

index 0.9 percent lower and on track for a weekly drop

of 1.5 percent, a fifth successive week of declines.

Brokers said foreign flows remained supportive.

"Less concern about an imminent Fed hike and the start of

European QE began to support equity flows and should help limit

the downside of SET," strategists at broker KGI Securities wrote

in a report.

Stocks in Indonesia edged down 0.4 percent, erasing

some of Thursday's 0.75 percent rise but still heading to end

the week 0.1 percent higher. Philippine shares eased 0.2

percent, on track for a slide of 0.2 percent on the week.

Malaysia was down 0.4 percent, its first fall in

four sessions, and is set to close up about 1 percent on the

week.

The pullback in the region came on the back of weak U.S.

stocks overnight while Asian stocks stalled on Friday as Federal

Reserve-inspired gains petered out.

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

was little changed after rallying 1.3 percent

the previous day.

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SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS

Change at 0504 GMT

Market Current Prev Close Pct Move

Singapore 3406.94 3386.16 +0.61

Kuala Lumpur 1801.10 1809.13 -0.44

Bangkok 1518.80 1532.13 -0.87

Jakarta 5432.52 5453.85 -0.39

Manila 7797.52 7814.55 -0.22

Ho Chi Minh 575.17 573.74 +0.25

(Reporting by Viparat Jantraprap; Editing by Sunil Nair)