SE Asia Stocks-Sluggish; Singapore up tracking Wall St

By Susan Mathew

Feb 22 (Reuters) - Southeast Asian stock markets were

largely flat on Wednesday, except Singapore which gained

tracking U.S. stocks that rose to record highs on Tuesday driven

by strong earnings.

Stellar results by consumer stocks took Wall Street higher

while the U.S. dollar strengthened on hawkish comments by the

U.S. Federal Reserve on Tuesday strengthening the case for rate

hikes to remain on track.

Singapore stocks snapped two days of losses, rising 0.5

percent, led by the oil and gas and financial sectors.

"Singapore generally tracks the U.S. markets. The U.S.

markets gained half a percent yesterday (Tuesday), so it's just

tracking that higher," said an analyst from Singapore.

Energy companies Keppel Corp and Sembcorp

Industries rose 1.5 percent and 0.6 percent

respectively.

Oil prices held near multi-week highs on Wednesday after

OPEC signalled optimism over its deal with other producers to

curb output to clear a glut that has weighed on markets since

2014.

Financial sector shares gained with DBS Group Holdings

and United Overseas Bank up nearly 1 percent

each, with the latter rising to its highest since August 2015.

Vietnam stocks rose as much as 0.35 percent to their highest

in nine years led by energy and consumer stocks.

Petrovietnam Gas Joint Stock Corp gained 1.7

percent while Vietnam Dairy Products JSC added as much

as 0.7 percent.

Malaysian shares were marginally higher, after data

showed consumer prices rose 3.2 percent from a year earlier.

A Reuters poll had seen inflation at 2.8 percent, rising

sharply from the previous month.

Rising inflation could pose an impediment to the central

bank to ease monetary policy further, DBS Group Research said in

a note.

The central bank missed the window to cut the policy rate in

November last year due to the tremendous pressure on the ringgit

which plunged by about 5 percent in the month after the U.S.

election result, the note said.

For Asian Companies click;

SOUTHEAST ASIAN STCOK MARKETS : CHANGE AT 0436 GMT

Market Current Previous Close Pct Move

Singapore 3107.8 3094.19 0.44

Bangkok 1566.07 1564.42 0.11

Manila 7271.88 7282.68 -0.15

Jakarta 5337.831 5340.99 -0.06

Kuala Lumpur 1707.31 1706.55 0.04

Ho Chi Minh 718.19 716.55 0.23

Change on year

Market Current End 2016 Pct Move

Singapore 3107.8 2880.76 7.88

Bangkok 1566.07 1542.94 1.50

Manila 7271.88 6840.64 4.60

Jakarta 5337.831 5296.711 0.78

Kuala Lumpur 1707.31 1641.73 3.99

Ho Chi Minh 718.19 644.87 6.87

(Reporting by Susan Mathew in Bengaluru; Editing by Sunil Nair)