SE Asia Stocks-Singapore rebounds, led by Thai Beverage

By Geo Tharappel

Feb 15 (Reuters) - Singapore shares bounced back on

Wednesday, mainly driven by gains in Thai Beverage Pcl

on strong quarterly earnings, while most other Southeast Asian

markets were flat after U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen

signalled a faster pace of rate hikes.

Yellen said on Tuesday delaying rate increases could leave

the Fed policymaking committee behind the curve and also flagged

considerable uncertainty over economic policy under President

Donald Trump.

"Foreign funds have been selling for the past several weeks

in anticipation of rate hikes in the coming quarters and on

continued strength of the dollar," said Manny Cruz, chief

strategist at Asiasec Equities Inc, adding rate hike

expectations had already been priced in.

Singapore's FTSE Straits Times Index rose as much as

0.7 percent after posting its biggest single-day fall since

October 2016 in the previous session.

Thai Beverage Pcl surged as much as 5.1 percent to

a three-month high after reporting a 28 percent jump in its

quarterly net profit.

Top lender DBS Group Holdings Ltd climbed as much

as 1 percent after shedding 3.4 percent on Tuesday.

Philippine shares rose as much as 0.4 percent, helped

by industrial and real estate stocks.

Conglomerate JG Summit Holdings Inc jumped as much

as 3 percent in its biggest percentage leap in more than a

month, while property developer Ayala Land Inc gained

up to 1.7 percent.

"(Philippine shares) gained strength today on the back of

bargain-hunting in select blue chip issues... yesterday we

dropped significantly due to mining issues," Cruz said.

The Philippines' environment minister stepped up a crackdown

on mining on Tuesday, cancelling almost a third of the country's

contracts for undeveloped mines and rejecting any challenges to

earlier orders to shut over half of all operating pits.

Meanwhile, Thai shares shed as much as 0.6 percent

to hit their lowest since Jan. 20, dragged down by industrials

and financials.

Airports of Thailand Pcl fell as much as 5.7

percent to a 12-week low, while Bangkok Bank Pcl

declined as much as 1.7 percent.

The Indonesian stock market was closed for local

elections.

For Asian Companies click;

SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS: Change at 0431 GMT

Market Current Prev close Pct Move

Singapore 3080.91 3072.47 0.27

Bangkok 1564.62 1572.24 -0.48

Manila 7207.33 7206.84 0.01

Kuala Lumpur 1708.29 1708.9 -0.04

Ho Chi Minh 709.45 706.26 0.45

Change this year

Market Current End 2016 Pct Move

Singapore 3080.91 2880.76 6.95

Bangkok 1564.62 1542.94 1.41

Manila 7207.33 6840.64 5.36

Kuala Lumpur 1708.29 1641.73 4.05

Ho Chi Minh 709.45 664.87 6.71

(Reporting by Geo Tharappel in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu

Sahu)