SE Asian Stocks-Lower on inflation fears, Vietnam leads losses

* Vietnam leads losses, down 2.75 pct after fuel price rise

* Malaysia bounces back after 16-month low, up 0.55 pct

* Energy stocks up on overnight crude oil price rise

By Ploy Chitsomboon

BANGKOK, July 22 (Reuters) - Most Southeast Asian markets
fell on Tuesday as fears of rising inflation hit financials
such as Singapore's United Overseas Bank (UOBH.SI) but higher
overnight oil prices boosted Thai energy shares .SETEN.

The Asian Development Bank warned that central banks in the
region were moving too slowly to tackle inflation, which seems
to be seeping into the broader economies of the region.
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Vietnam's main index .VNI, which has fallen over 50
percent this year, led losses in the region, closing down 2.75
percent, after the government increased fuel prices, which
heightened fears about inflation and slower economic growth.

Singapore's benchmark Straits Time Index .FTSTI slipped
0.98 percent after hitting a one-week high on Monday, the
Philippines index .PSI fell 0.27 percent and Thai stocks
.SETI lost 0.75 percent.

Bucking the trend, Indonesian shares .JKSE rose 0.8
percent to extend gains for a fourth day as investors continued
to favour commodity stocks in the resource-rich country, while
Malaysian stocks .KLSE gained 0.55 percent, coming off from
its 16-month low.

"People are digesting the impact of rising costs, seen
accelerating at a much faster pace in the region," said Poramet
Tongbua, an economist at Tisco Securities.

"On a regional basis, we might not see it affect the
financial health of big firms on a large scale at this point,
but at a grassroots level, there is an obvious trend that
rising food prices have started to hurt people's consumption,"
Poramet said.

In Singapore, blue chips such as Singapore
Telecommunications Ltd (STEL.SI) led falls, edging down 1.4
percent. Top bank DBS Group Holdings (DBSM.SI) was off 0.1
percent and United Overseas Bank shed 1.5 percent.

However, shares in Bright World Precision Machinery
BWRL.SI jumped 80 percent and Datacraft Asia DCFT.SI,
Southeast Asia's largest computer data network builder, surged
almost 30 percent to record highs on news of acquisition deals.
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In Kuala Lumpur, traders bought plantation stocks, with IOI
Corp (IOIB.KL) 0.91 percent higher and Sime Darby (SIME.KL) up
3.29 percent at a four-day high.

In Indonesia, the index was boosted by telecom firm PT
Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk (TLKM.JK), which rose 7.75
percent, and Bumi Resources (BUMI.JK), up 0.8 percent.

Thai energy-related firms rose, helped by an overnight rise
in oil prices CLc1, led by a 1.54 percent rise in top oil and
gas firm PTT PTT.BK, with PTT Exploration PTTE.BK up 0.5
percent.

However, oil pared some of the previous session's gains as
Tropical Storm Dolly looked likely to miss major U.S. oil and
gas production facilities, easing fears of supply disruptions
from the first big storm threat of 2008.
(Editing by Alan Raybould)