SE Asian Stocks-Mostly higher on Wall Street, investors cautious

* Investors fear bear rally due to continued weakness in
U.S.

* Maybank continues to rise after central bank scraps BII

By Kevin Lim

SINGAPORE, July 31 (Reuters) - Most Southeast Asian stock
markets rose on Thursday, helped by gains on Wall Street, with
a jump in oil prices boosting firms such as Singapore's Wilmar
(WLIL.SI) and Thailand's PTT PTT.BK.

Singapore .FTSTI rose 0.14 percent while Malaysia .KLSE
edged 0.27 percent higher. Thailand .SETI gained 0.96
percent, Indonesia .JKSE rose 1.13 percent and Vietnam .VNI
climbed 0.69 percent.

The Philippines .PSI bucked the trend, falling 0.26
percent.

"This is a value trap with the only uncertainty being the
timing of the next leg of selloff," said Leslie Phang, head of
investments at Schroders Private Clients.

"These are early days of a protracted global economic
slowdown that will be driven by cyclical decline in growth and
earnings," he added.

In Singapore, plantation firm Wilmar (WLIL.SI) jumped 4.5
percent as crude oil CLc1 held onto Wednesday's gain of over
$4 a barrel. But Keppel Corp (KPLM.SI), the world's largest oil
rig maker, was down 0.19 percent ahead of its second-quarter
earnings, which were 16 percent higher than a year ago.

Maybank (MBBM.KL) continued to hog the limelight in
Malaysia two days after the central bank blocked its plan to
buy Indonesia's BII (BNII.JK), rising 0.6 percent. Its shares
soared 4.6 percent on Wednesday.

In Indonesia, Bumi Resources (BUMI.JK) climbed 4.7 percent,
but Telkom Indonesia (TLKM.JK) dropped 2.5 percent after
announcing a 14 percent drop in second-quarter net profit.
[ID:nJAK234350]

Thailand's top oil and gas firm PTT PTT.BK gained 5.9
percent after it said it may buy back its shares, while top
lender Bangkok Bank BBL.BK rose 1.9 percent.

Market watchers remain bearish on Thai stocks, however, due
to continued political uncertainty. The wife of former Prime
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was found guilty of tax fraud and
sentenced to three years in jail. [ID:nSP223799]

Looking ahead, Daphne Roth, vice president for equity
research at ABN AMRO, said she is underweight Thailand because
of the political situation and Indonesia because of the
country's inflation problem.

Asian markets are still guided by the United States, where
banks may undergo more pain in the months ahead due to
writedowns on risky debt, she said.

"We are still seeking direction from the U.S. and of course
the credit crisis is not over," she said.
(Additional reporting by Saeed Azhar, editing by Neil
Chatterjee)