SE Asia Stocks-Rangebound-to-weak; Indonesia banks up ahead of rate decision

BANGKOK, March 16 (Reuters) - Indonesian stocks edged up on

Monday as bargain-hunting emerged in banking shares a day ahead

of the central bank's decision on interest rates, while other

markets were rangebound-to-weaker awaiting cues on interest rate

direction from the United States.

Jakarta's composite index was up 0.33 percent,

recovering from minor early losses and the fall on Friday.

Foreign invertors led buyers in banking shares with Bank

Central Asia, Bank Mandiri and Bank Rakyat

Indonesia among those actively traded, stock exchange

data showed.

Thirteen out of 14 economists expected the benchmark rate

will be kept at 7.5 percent on Tuesday to aid the rupiah

depreciation.

The rupiah hit a fresh 17-year low, while sluggish exports

and imports in February offset a higher-than-expected trade

surplus.

The Thai SET Index headed for a second straight day

of falls to 1,522.18. Brokers said the slide was in part due to

a bout of short-selling in large-caps.

"For short-term strategy, we advise investors to sell the

rallies and buy the dips in shares of companies standing to

benefit from the recent interest rate cut by the Bank of

Thailand," said broker Phillip Securities in a report.

Losses in Bangkok were led by shares of True Corporation

, which dropped 3 percent, and Bangkok Bank,

which slipped to its lowest since May 2014.

A two-day U.S. Federal Open Market Committee policy meeting

on March 17-18 being keenly watched by investors in the region

for clues on the timing of an interest rate hike.

The Philippine main index touched a two-week low,

while Vietnam hit its lowest since Feb. 11. Malaysian

shares were 0.2 percent higher while stocks in Singapore

rebounded from a more-than-seven-week closing low on

Friday.

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SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS

Change at 0651 GMT

Market Current Prev Close Pct Move

Singapore 3385.40 3362.77 +0.67

Kuala Lumpur 1785.26 1781.75 +0.20

Bangkok 1522.18 1541.55 -1.26

Jakarta 5444.63 5426.47 +0.33

Manila 7749.84 7809.54 -0.76

Ho Chi Minh 582.06 586.10 -0.69

(Reporting by Viparat Jantraprap; Editing by Sunil Nair)