* S'pore falls led by big-caps and banking stocks
* Energy, banks pull Thai index to lowest in nearly 7 weeks
By Viparat Jantraprap
BANGKOK, July 13 (Reuters) - Southeast Asian stock markets
fell on Monday, with Singapore slipping close to a one-week low
due to losses in big caps such as CapitaLand and SingTel, while
the Thai index hit its lowest in almost seven weeks.
Concern about company earnings and the uncertain prospects
for U.S. economic recovery continued to weigh on most Asian
bourses, analysts said.
"Stock markets were trading on expectations of weak
quarterly results and partly because their recent rally has
been overdone," said Pichai Lertsupongkij, head of sales at
Thanachart Securities.
The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS was down 2.8 percent at 0942 GMT.
Singapore's benchmark index .FTSTI lost 1.8 percent,
after falling early in the day by 2.1 percent to its lowest
since July 8, with developer CapitaLand (CATL.SI) down 2.4
percent and Singapore Telecommunications (STEL.SI) down 1.3
percent.
Thailand's SET index .SETI ended down 0.6 percent, after
falling as much as 1.8 percent to its lowest since May 28, with
the biggest energy firm, PTT PTT.BK, losing 0.5 percent,
tracking weaker crude prices.
Oil fell more than $1 to below $59 a barrel on Monday,
slipping towards a seven-week low on concern about the state of
the global economy.
Big banks mostly dropped, with Bangkok Bank BBL.BK down
3.5 percent, second-ranked Krung Thai Bank KTB.BK down 3.6
percent and third-biggest Siam Commercial Bank SCB.BK down
1.9 percent.
Thai commercial banks were expected to post an average fall
in second-quarter net profit of 20 percent due to an increase
in loan loss provisions, narrower net interest margins and
weaker loan growth, Thanachart's Pichai said.
Bank shares in Singapore also fell ahead of quarterly
results due in early August, with DBS Group (DBSM.SI),
Southeast Asia's top bank, down 1.9 percent and Oversea-Chinese
Banking Corp (OCBC.SI) down 2.9 percent.
Elsewhere, Malaysia's index .KLSE eased 0.4 percent,
weighed down by Berjaya Sports Toto Bhd (BSTB.KL), which was
off 7.6 percent, and Malayan Banking (MBBM.KL), down 0.9
percent.
Jakarta .JKSE closed down 2.1 percent, with Bank Rakyat
(BBRI.JK) slipping 4.4 percent and gas distribution firm
Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGAS.JK) 2.9 percent lower.
The Philippine index .PSI ended a two-day rise, losing
0.2 percent, with Manila Electric Co (MER.PS) down 2.8 percent,
while Vietnam's index .VNI dropped 2.8 percent to its lowest
since July 3, with Bao Viet Holdings BVH.HM, the largest
insurer, down 5 percent.
($1=34.09 Baht)
(Editing by Alan Raybould)
