SE Asia Stocks-Most rise on hopes of Sino-U.S. trade war relief

* Indonesia set to snap three sessions of gains

* Philippines on track to rise for second straight day

By Shreya Mariam Job

Jan 18 (Reuters) - Most Southeast Asian stock markets rose

on Friday taking cues from broader Asia, with Philippines

leading gains, after a media report on progress in U.S.-China

trade talks stirred hopes of a deal in their tariff dispute and

supported risk sentiment.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin had discussed

lifting some or all tariffs imposed on Chinese imports and had

suggested offering a tariff rollback during trade discussions

scheduled for Jan. 30, according to a Wall Street Journal report

citing people familiar with the internal deliberations.

However, a Treasury spokesperson denied the report saying

the process with China is nowhere near completion.

While the news boosted sentiment in the market, analysts are

of the opinion that "alleged equity market motivations of the

rumour/speculation" might hamper trade agreements.

"If calming financial markets is indeed the main motivation

for any conciliatory moves on U.S.-China trade tariffs, it begs

the question of durability of any subsequent trade talks'

outcome," said Vishnu Varathan, senior economist at Mizuho Bank.

Despite the denial from the Treasury department, global

equity markets advanced as investors turned optimistic about

softening trade tensions. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific

shares outside Japan added 0.7 percent.

Industrial and financial stocks drove the Philippine

benchmark index 1 percent higher, leading gains in the

region.

Shares of BDO Unibank Inc climbed 1.9 percent,

while those of Ayala Corp advanced 1.6 percent.

The Singapore index recovered from the losses of the

previous session owing to a fall in the country's December

exports, to rise 0.2 percent.

Financial stocks largely pulled the index higher, with

shares of DBS Group Holdings Ltd and United Overseas

Bank Ltd rising 0.4 percent and 0.3 percent,

respectively.

However, the Indonesian index bucked the trend to

fall slightly, dragged by consumer staples and financial stocks.

The country's central bank on Thursday held its key rate

unchanged and the governor indicated that its cycle of

aggressive tightening in 2018 was "near its peak", thanks to

"dovish" recent signals from the U.S. Federal

Reserve.

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SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS As at 0400 GMT

Change on the day

Market Current Previous close Pct Move

Singapore 3221.21 3214.44 0.21

Bangkok 1582.25 1580.3 0.12

Manila 8005.73 7927.2 0.99

Jakarta 6421.22 6423.78 -0.04

Kuala Lumpur 1685.8 1682.97 0.17

Ho Chi Minh 901.48 901.89 -0.05

Change so far in 2019

Market Current End 2018 Pct Move

Singapore 3221.21 3068.76 4.97

Bangkok 1582.25 1563.88 1.17

Manila 8005.73 7,466.02 7.23

Jakarta 6421.22 6,194.50 3.66

Kuala Lumpur 1685.8 1690.58 -0.28

Ho Chi Minh 901.48 892.54 1.00

(Reporting by Shreya Mariam Job in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi

Aich)