SE Asia Stocks-S'pore hits 15-mth peak, Indonesia at 3-week high

* S'pore's CapitaLand up on shopping mall IPO optimism

* Big caps lead Jakarta to 3-week highs

* Malaysia's CIMB climbs after Thai listing plan

By Viparat Jantraprap

BANGKOK, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Singapore's stock index
.FTSTI climbed to its highest in 15 months on Monday, leading
gains in other major Southeast Asian stock markets as investors
snapped up banks and CapitaLand gained on plans to list its
mall unit.

The Straits Times Index .FTSTI ended up 2.1 percent at
its highest since Aug. 18, 2008, led by a 5.2 percent surge in
United Overseas Bank (UOBH.SI), a 4.2 percent climb in
Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC.SI) and a 3 percent gain in
DBS (DBSM.SI).

Investors took the view Singapore's banks were in a better
position than global peers to profit from post-crisis growth.

"Singapore is quite bullish today, driven by banking and
property shares. The three banks were supported by their
quarterly results, which were above analysts' expectations,"
said a dealer at a brokerage firm in Singapore.

"CapitaLand is lifting sentiment in property shares.
Investors are hoping the IPO price of its shopping mall unit
will be at the top of the range. The price will be announced
tomorrow," the dealer said.

CapitaLand (CATL.SI), Southeast Asia's biggest developer,
gained 2.4 percent, ahead of the announcement of the price of a
planned $2 billion IPO of its shopping mall unit.
[ID:nSGA000021]

Dealers also attributed positive sentiment in the region to
a statement by the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation grouping
(APEC) which endorsed stimulus measures to keep the world from
sliding back into recession. [ID:nSIN465622]

CIMB Investment Bank said it expected a recovery in the
U.S. economy to buoy global stock markets.

"We remain mid-term positive on equity markets. U.S.
corporate profits are on a recovery trend and the sharp run-up
of valuations in recent months is justified by strong return on
equity (ROE) and earnings per share (EPS) upgrades," its
research note said.

Indonesia's stock index .JKSE rose 1.7 percent to its
highest since Oct. 26, with the biggest lender, Bank Mandiri
(BMRI.JK), up 4.8 percent and coal miner Bumi Resources
(BUMI.JK) surging 6.1 percent.

Malaysia's index .KLSE was up 0.6 percent, led by a 2.8
percent rise in financial CIMB Group Holdings (CIMB.KL)
following its plan to raise about 4.5 billion baht ($136
million) from a public offering in the Thai market by the
middle of 2010.

Its 94 percent owned CIMB Thai Bank CIMBT.BK gained 2.3
percent on the Thai bourse, while the broader Thai stock market
was up 1.2 percent on the day.

Among gainers in Kuala Lumpur, shipping firm MISC (MISC.KL)
rose 2.2 percent and Petronas Gas (PGAS.KL) was up 1.5 percent.

In Bangkok, top industrial conglomerate Siam Cement
SCC.BK rose 3.3 percent, the biggest coal miner, Banpu
BANP.BK, surged 5.6 percent and chicken exporter Charoen
Pokphand Food CPF.BK was up 6.4 percent.

Bucking the trend, Thai Airways (THAI.BK) lost 1 percent
after the national carrier reported a larger-than-expected
quarterly net loss of 4.03 billion baht.

The Philippines .PSI fell 0.8 percent, adding to a 1.3
percent drop on Friday, with Philex Mining Corp (PX.PS), the
country's top miner, sliding 15 percent. It has surged on talks
of a looming battle for control, but slipped back after
disappointing results.

Mall-to-banking group SM Investments Corp (SM.PS) eased 1.5
percent. It rose in early trade after it said its net income
rose 14 percent in the nine months to September, driven mainly
by its retail and property businesses.

Vietnam's index .VNI was down 0.5 percent, ending a
three-day gain of 4.5 percent, weighed down by a 2.3 percnent
loss in Eximbank EIB.HM and a 1.2 percent loss in Vinamilk
VNM.HM.
($1=33.27 Baht)
(Additional reporting by Soo Ai Peng in Kuala Lumpur; Editing
by Alan Raybould)