SE Asia Stocks-Philippines recovers on bargain-hunting; Vietnam up 1.5 pct

By Nikhil Nainan

Dec 18 (Reuters) - Philippine stocks rose 0.5 percent on

Monday as investors hunted for bargains after Friday's sharp

fall, while Vietnam shares jumped nearly 1.5 percent with

financials and utilities driving the surge.

Real estate stocks such as SM Prime Holdings Inc

and Ayala Land were the biggest gainers in the

Philippines. SM Prime climbed as much as 2.2 percent, while

Ayala Land rose up to 1.4 percent.

Investor sentiment was also upbeat after the World Bank said

after market hours on Friday that the Philippine economy is

expected to expand at a slightly quicker pace in 2017 than

earlier forecast.

"The market went down sharply on Friday, and today is some

bargain-hunting ahead of a possible window dressing by the end

of the year," said Manny Cruz, an analyst with Asiasec Equities

Inc in Manila.

The Philippine Stock Exchange PSEI Index, which has

been Southeast Asia's second best performer this year with a

gain of about 22 percent as of Friday's close, had shed 1.5

percent in the previous session.

Last week, it had added 0.4 percent as the Congress approved

a much-awaited tax reform bill that President Rodrigo Duterte

needs to push ahead to realise his economic agenda.

Cruz said, "This will be the backbone of the government in

the structural development starting next year."

Vietnam shares rose as much as 1.6 percent with

Petrovietnam Gas Joint Stock Corp and Joint Stock

Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Viet Nam leading

the gains.

Petrovietnam Gas rose 4.4 percent, while Joint Stock

Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Viet Nam was up 2.9

percent.

Singapore shares dropped 0.3 percent with Singapore

Telecommunications declining over 3 percent.

Data showed that the city-state's non-oil exports growth

slowed significantly to 9.1 percent in November, compared with

October's double-digit surge.

Indonesian stocks fell 0.5 percent, hurt by losses

in consumer discretionary and financial stocks.

An index of the country's 45 most liquid stocks

fell as much as 0.7 percent.

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SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS:

Change at 0359 GMT

Market Current Previous close Pct Move

Singapore 3408.48 3416.94 -0.25

Bangkok 1720.44 1717.69 0.16

Manila 8381.97 8337.04 0.54

Jakarta 6090.807 6119.419 -0.47

Kuala Lumpur 1749.85 1753.07 -0.18

Ho Chi Minh 948.83 935.16 1.46

Change so far this year

Market Current End 2016 Pct Move

Singapore 3408.48 2880.76 18.32

Bangkok 1720.44 1542.94 11.50

Manila 8381.97 6840.64 22.53

Jakarta 6090.807 5296.711 14.99

Kuala Lumpur 1749.85 1641.73 6.59

Ho Chi Minh 948.83 664.87 42.71

(Reporting by Nikhil Kurian Nainan in Bengaluru; Editing by

Subhranshu Sahu)