SE Asia Stocks-Most weaker with Asia; Thai up after weekend polls

BANGKOK, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Most Southeast Asian stocks fell

on Monday, with Singapore sliding to five-month lows amid weak

sentiment in the U.S. and Asian stock markets, but Thai stocks

rose on short covering after voting in Sunday's general election

went ahead peacefully.

Singapore's Straits Times Index dropped 1.1 percent

to 2,993.73, falling at one point to 2,991.15, the lowest since

Aug. 28, led down by shares of Singapore Telecommunications

and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp.

Broker NRA Capital expects the index to fall to initial

support of 2,900, citing the pace of Wall Street's loss on

Friday and as the market deals with more negative than positive

news.

"Even if the further $10 billion cut to the Fed's QE

programme was expected, this did not come with accompanying

positive indicators but more uncertainty as to whether the

faltering recovery can take more setbacks," the broker said.

In Jakarta, selling in large caps such as Telkom Indonesia

sent the main index down 0.4 percent. In

Manila, the main index eased 0.3 percent, led down by

shares of Bank of the Philippine Islands.

MSCI's index of Southeast Asian shares was

down 0.3 percent while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific

shares outside Japan eased 0.2 percent by 0542

GMT.

Thai stocks bucked the downtrend, up 1.1 percent by

midday, led by large caps such as Advanced Info Service

after the weekend poll passed without violence as

feared. Brokers said political risks remained.

"It is important to monitor what the caretaker government

will do during the vacuum period. The Election Commission plans

to hold a by-election on Feb. 23, but it still might not be

enough to fill the 95 percent of MP seats required," strategists

at broker KGI Securities wrote in a report.

Malaysia was shut for a market holiday and Vietnam

remained closed for the country's Lunar New Year

festival, reopening on Feb. 6.

For Asian Companies click;

For South East Asia Hot Stock reports, click;

SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS

Change at 0542 GMT

Market Current Prev Close Pct Move

TR SE Asia Index* 377.56 377.69 -0.03

Singapore 2993.73 3027.22 -1.11

Bangkok 1288.47 1274.28 +1.11

Jakarta 4401.97 4418.76 -0.38

Manila 6020.96 6041.19 -0.33