SE Asia Stocks-Most track Wall St higher; S'pore hits 1-mth high

* S'pore, Philippines up over 1 pct each

* Asian shares ex-Japan rise for first session in 5

By Nikhil Nainan

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

line with broader Asia on Wednesday after upbeat corporate

earnings on Wall Street boosted investor confidence.

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

rose 0.4 percent after four straight sessions of

losses.

U.S. stock indexes rallied overnight on strong earnings from

blue-chip companies, fuelling optimism about what is expected to

be the strongest earnings season in seven years.

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 ... they cut reserve

requirement ratios ... I think that was a positive sentiment

spillover for emerging markets as a whole," said Taye Shim, head

of research at Mirae Asset Sekuritas in Indonesia.

Indonesian shares rose 0.4 percent, aided by gains

in telecom company Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Persero) Tbk

Perusahaan Perseroan PT and Unilever Indonesia Tbk PT

.

Philippine shares jumped 1.2 percent and were on

track to snap three consecutive sessions of losses.

Index heavyweights Ayala Corp and BDO Unibank Inc

, up 3.3 percent and 2.9 percent respectively, lifted

the index.

Singapore shares climbed 1.3 percent to a one-month

high led by financials.

Top lenders United Overseas Bank Ltd, DBS Group

Holdings Ltd and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation

Ltd rose between 1.6 percent and 2.4 percent.

Across the border, Malaysian shares edged slightly

lower as the country's consumer price index in March

rose at its slowest pace in nearly two years, government data

showed.

Top telecom stocks Axiata Group Bhd, Telekom

Malaysia Bhd and DiGi.Com Bhd suffered

losses.

Financials were the top gainers in Thailand's, up

0.4 percent, following the cabinet's approval on Tuesday to

offer tax incentives to encourage mergers among the country's

commercial banks.

Krung Thai Bank PCL gained 2.8 percent, while

Krungthai Card PCL soared 4.8 percent.

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SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS

Change at 0424 GMT

Market Current Previous close Pct Move

Singapore 3543.38 3498.2 1.29

Bangkok 1763.21 1755.53 0.44

Manila 7814.64 7723.39 1.18

Jakarta 6309.685 6285.762 0.38

Kuala Lumpur 1876.99 1880.49 -0.19

Ho Chi Minh 1152.02 1153.28 -0.11

Change on year

Market Current End 2017 Pct Move

Singapore 3543.38 3402.92 4.13

Bangkok 1763.21 1753.71 0.54

Manila 7814.64 8558.42 -8.69

Jakarta 6309.685 6355.654 -0.72

Kuala Lumpur 1876.99 1796.81 4.46

Ho Chi Minh 1152.02 984.24 17.05

(Reporting by Nikhil Kurian Nainan; Editing by Vyas Mohan)