SE Asia Stocks - S'pore, Indonesia lead regional falls

* S'pore at 3-mth lows; Indonesia at 2-mth lows

* Malaysia and Thailand around 2-week lows

By Viparat Jantraprap

BANGKOK, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Southeast Asian stocks fell on
Friday in markets dogged by global economic fears, with
Singapore hitting a three-month low and Indonesia a two-month
low, led by financials such as Singapore's UOB and Indonesia's
Bank Rakyat.

Singapore .FTSTI dropped 2.1 percent to its lowest since
Nov. 21, with the second-largest lender United Overseas Bank
(UOBH.SI) down 3.04 percent, while Indonesia .JKSE slid 2.02
percent, with state run Bank Rakyat (BBRI.JK) off 4.6 percent.

Fears about the global economy and the financial sector led
investors to shed riskier assets and pulled Asian stocks to
their lowest since early December.

Singapore, which is in its worst-ever recession, suffered a
6.5 percent fall on the week, the second-worst performer after
Vietnam, as good news in the form of a housing rescue package
announced in the United States was offset by poor economic
data.

"This all saw share markets fall, with many markets ... now
back to testing their lows from the last few months," said
Shane Oliver, chief economist at AMP Capital Investors.

Malaysian and Thai stocks hovered at two-week lows, with
Malaysia .KLSE off 1.1 percent, pulled down by a 5.4 percent
drop in lender Malayan Banking (MBBM.KL) and Thailand .SETI
down 1.6 percent, with Bangkok Bank BBL.BK 2 percent lower.

Elsewhere, the Philippines .PSI lost 0.9 percent and
Vietnam .VNI fell 0.9 percent to its lowest since August
2005.

Investors remain hopeful for market rebounds due to their
cheap valuations.

"If markets retest their October lows -- still our base
case - returns begin to look even more attractive if valuations
return to the mean over 10 years," broker Citi Investment
Research said in a research note.

A rare bright spot in Singapore was shares in Venture Corp
(VENM.SI), which jumped 7.3 percent despite a 94 percent drop
in quarterly net profit, helped by bullish analysts' reports
about the firm. [nSIN97559]

In Bangkok, IRPC IRPC.BK, Southeast Asia's largest fully
integrated petrochemical firm, eased 0.5 percent and PTT
Aromatics PTTAR.BK fell 2.9 percent after Moody's Investors
Service cut its outlook on the two firms to negative.

In Kuala Lumpur, palm planter IOI Corp (IOIB.KL) rose 1.1
percent. The company reported a 71 percent drop in quarterly
net profit after the market closed. [nWNAS6640]
($1=35.75 Baht)
(Editing by Alan Raybould)