SE Asia Stocks-Most rise on Wall St. gains; S'pore hits 3-month high

* Singapore hits near 3-mth high

* Vietnam slips to 5-week low

By Nikhil Nainan

April 18 (Reuters) - Most Southeast Asian shares rose on

Wednesday on a recovery in investor appetite for riskier assets

after rosy corporate earnings from Wall Street boosted

sentiment.

U.S. stock indexes rallied overnight as bluechip companies

reported strong earnings, fuelling optimism over what is

expected to be the strongest earnings season in seven years.

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

rose 0.6 percent after four consecutive sessions

of losses.

In a surprise move late on Tuesday, the People's Bank of

China said it will reduce the cash banks hold as reserves, a

move that frees up lending for small firms, but falls short of

broad monetary easing.

"One key development from China, where they cut reserve

requirement ratio, I think that was a positive sentiment

spillover for emerging markets as a whole, and plus for

Indonesia specifically," said Taye Shim, head of research at

Mirae Asset Sekuritas in Indonesia.

Indonesian stocks rose 0.5 percent, with gains from

materials and financials pushing the index higher.

Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Persero) Tbk Perusahaan Perseroan

PT rose 2.2 percent, while Bank Mandiri (Persero) Tbk

PT rose 1.9 percent.

Singapore shares climbed 1.7 percent to their highest

in nearly three months, helped by strong gains in financials.

Top lenders DBS Group Holdings Ltd, United

Overseas Bank Ltd and Oversea-Chinese Banking

Corporation Ltd rose between 2.2 percent and 3

percent.

Shares in the Philippines closed up 0.9 percent, with

financials and real estate stocks leading the gains.

Index heavyweights Ayala Land Inc and BDO Unibank

Inc jumped 3.1 percent and 3 percent, respectively.

Financials were the top gainers on the Thai index

which gained 0.9 percent, following the cabinet's approval on

Tuesday to offer tax incentives to encourage mergers among the

country's commercial banks.

Malaysian shares closed marginally lower after

government data showed the country's March consumer price index

rose at its slowest pace in nearly two years.

Vietnam shares ended down for a third session in

four, down 1.3 percent, with financials weighing heavily on the

index.

Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Viet Nam

and Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and

Development of Vietnam slumped 3.3 percent and 4.1

percent, respectively, dragging the index to a five-week low.

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SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS

Change on the day

Market Current Previous close Pct Move

Singapore 3557.82 3498.2 1.70

Bangkok 1771.56 1755.53 0.91

Manila 7793.13 7723.39 0.90

Jakarta 6320.005 6285.762 0.54

Kuala Lumpur 1879.32 1880.49 -0.06

Ho Chi Minh 1138.53 1153.28 -1.28

Change on year

Market Current End 2017 Pct Move

Singapore 3557.82 3402.92 4.55

Bangkok 1771.56 1753.71 1.02

Manila 7793.13 8558.42 -8.94

Jakarta 6320.005 6355.654 -0.56

Kuala Lumpur 1879.32 1796.81 4.59

Ho Chi Minh 1138.53 984.24 15.68

(Reporting by Nikhil Kurian Nainan; Editing by Sunil Nair)