SE Asia Stocks-Most rise; Malaysia posts biggest weekly drop in 2017

By Karthika Suresh Namboothiri

Nov 17 (Reuters) - Most Southeast Asian stock markets ended

higher on Friday after a strong overnight finish by Wall Street

along with robust local economic data helped fuel investor

confidence in the region.

Wall Street's main indexes rose sharply overnight on

positive earnings from Wal-Mart and Cisco, and

after a broad package of tax cuts sought by President Donald

Trump passed its first hurdle.

In Southeast Asia, Singapore shares ended 1.2 percent

higher, snapping five consecutive sessions of declines, boosted

by financials, as the city-state posted better-than-expected

non-oil domestic exports in October.

"I think the past two days were mainly due to profit-taking

going to the year-end. So, it was the fundamentals from

Singapore that gave a more optimistic outlook for equities,"

said Joel Ng, an analyst from Singapore-based KGI Securities.

Lender DBS Group Holdings climbed 3.4 percent,

contributing the most to the index and making it the biggest

percentage gainer.

Malaysian shares closed 0.2 percent higher after

data showed that the country's economy grew 6.2 percent in the

third quarter from a year earlier, recording its fastest growth

since the second quarter of 2014.

However, Southeast Asia's third largest economy saw its

worst week of the year, losing about 1.2 percent.

Indonesian shares hit a record high before trimming

gains to close slightly higher.

The country's central bank on Thursday kept its key policy

rate unchanged, as expected and in line with a goal of

maintaining financial stability at a time when the market

anticipates a U.S. interest rate hike next month.

The Indonesian sub-index comprising 45 most liquid

stocks on the benchmark, finished at a record high.

Philippine shares closed 1.3 percent higher, led by

financials and real estate stocks.

Property developer SM Investments Corp ended 2.6

percent higher, while Ayala Land closed at a one-week

high.

Meanwhile, Vietnam snapped 10 straight sessions of

gains, dragged by financials, but posted its seventh consecutive

weekly gain.

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SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS: CHANGE ON DAY

Market Current Previous Pct Move

close

Singapore 3382.38 3341.3 1.23

Bangkok 1709.38 1691.25 1.07

Manila 8311.08 8206.44 1.28

Jakarta 6051.732 6037.907 0.23

Kuala Lumpur 1721.66 1718.11 0.21

Ho Chi Minh 890.69 892.8 -0.24

Change on year

Market Current End 2016 Pct Move

Singapore 3382.38 2880.76 17.41

Bangkok 1709.38 1542.94 10.79

Manila 8311.08 6840.64 21.50

Jakarta 6051.732 5296.711 14.25

Kuala Lumpur 1721.66 1641.73 4.87

Ho Chi Minh 890.69 664.87 33.96

(Reporting by Karthika Namboothiri in Bengaluru; Editing by

Subhranshu Sahu)