SE Asia Stocks-Mostly down on concern over possible Fed rate hike

Nov 13 (Reuters) - Most Southeast Asian stock markets fell

on Friday, with Singapore and the Philippines leading the

declines after U.S. Federal Reserve officials' comments on a

likely December interest rate hike dented sentiment.

Singapore's Straits Times Index dropped as much as

1.3 percent to its lowest since Oct. 7 and the Philippine

benchmark index fell as much as 0.8 percent to its lowest

since Oct. 5. Both indexes were dragged down by financial and

industrial shares.

U.S. Fed officials lined up behind a likely December

interest rate hike with one key central banker saying the risk

of waiting too long was now roughly in balance with the risk of

moving too soon to normalize rates after seven years near zero.

Other Fed policymakers argued that inflation should rebound,

allowing the Fed to soon lift rates from near zero though

probably proceed gradually after that.

Investor sentiment was also dented due to a plunge in

commodity prices to multi-year lows on worries that slower

global growth may worsen a supply glut.

Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp fell 0.9 percent and

United Overseas Bank was down 1.1 percent, dragging

the overall index in Singapore.

Malaysia and Thailand edged down 0.1 percent

each.

Bucking the trend, the Jakarta Composite Index was

up 0.3 percent, while Vietnam was 0.1 percent firmer.

For Asian Companies click;

SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS

Change at 0542 GMT

Market Current Prev Close Pct Move

Singapore 2925.17 2959.01 -1.14

Kuala Lumpur 1661.43 1663.20 -0.11

Bangkok 1383.24 1384.29 -0.08

Jakarta 4475.55 4462.23 +0.30

Manila 6854.70 6909.82 -0.80

Ho Chi Minh 606.13 605.58 +0.09

(Reporting by Shihar Aneez; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)