SE Asia Stocks-bounce to around 8 month highs, S'pore leads

* S'pore nears 8-month high; CapitaLand, DBS Group lead

* Energy shares push Thai and Jakarta index higher

* Malaysia bucks trend ahead of worse-than-expected Q1 GDP

By Viparat Jantraprap

BANGKOK, May 27 (Reuters) - Most Southeast Asian stocks
rose on Wednesday as energy shares jumped on higher oil prices
and Singapore's index neared an eight-month high with
CapitaLand and DBS Group leading the way.

Oil prices hovered near their highest since November after
rising U.S. consumer confidence reinforced a view that the
global economy has bottomed, sending Asian shares to a
seven-month peak on the day. [nSP183853]

At 0952 GMT, the MSCI index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside
Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was up 2.4 percent.

Viwat Techapoonphol, an equities strategist at Tisco
Securities, expected global stocks to continue to rise.

"Fund managers are boosting their portfolio performances
and have continued to shift their money to stocks from bonds.
This has resulted in increasing bond yields," he said.

Singapore's index .FTSTI jumped 3 percent to its highest
since October 3, Thailand's benchmark SET index .SETI climbed
2.3 percent, Indonesia's index .JKSE rose 1.9 percent and
Philippine index .PSI was up 2 percent.

They fell more than one percent on Tuesday in response to a
report that North Korea would launch more short-range missiles.

In Bangkok, index heavyweight PTT (PTT.BK), the country's
biggest energy firm, and its subsidiary PTT Exploration and
Production PTTE.BK, which account for one-fifth of the main
SET index, rose 2.7 percent and 4.2 percent, respectively.

In Jakarta, state gas firm Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGAS.JK)
added 2.8 percent and top coal producer Adaro Energy (ADRO.JK)
rose 4.1 percent.

In Singapore, CapitaLand (CATL.SI), Southeast Asia's
biggest developer, surged 10.2 percent, the region's top lender
DBS Group (DBSM.SI) gained 3.2 percent and top telecom firm
Singapore Telecoms (STEL.SI) was 5.8 percent higher.

Elsewhere, Vietnam .VNI, the region's second best
performer this year after Indonesia, extended its gains for a
third day, inching up 0.03 percent. [ID:nHAN121102]

Bucking the trend, Malaysian stocks .KLSE closed down 0.4
percent, ahead of an announcement by the country's central bank
that the local economy contracted a larger-than-expected 6.2
percent in the first quarter from a year ago. [nKLA008280]

Decliners included plantation firms such as Sime Darby
(SIME.KL) and IOI Corp (IOIB.KL), each losing more than one
percent. Telekom Malaysia (TLMM.KL) fell 1.4 percent and
Maybank (MBBM.KL) lost almost one percent.
($1 = 34.37 Baht)
(Editing by Darren Schuettler)