* Financials send S'pore to 13-month highs
* Thai stocks fall to near 6-week lows
* Late selling trims early gains in the region
By Viparat Jantraprap
BANGKOK, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Most Southeast Asian stock
markets advanced on Thursday with lenders DBS and United
Overseas Bank leading Singapore to a 13-month high, while
Thailand's index suffered its biggest drop in a year.
Thai stocks fell more than eight percent to a near six-week
low at one point in heavy foreign selling on concerns over the
health of Thailand's king, traders said, despite comments from
the palace that his health was improving. [nSP277927]
Thailand's SET index .SETI recovered some ground in the
afternoon to close down 5.3 percent, led by losses in
heavyweight shares. Bangkok Bank BBL.BK, Siam Cement SCC.BK
and Kasikornbank KBAN.BK each fell more than 6 percent.
Concerns over domestic stability kept many local investors
at the sidelines, although some analysts said Thailand's market
fallout have made valuations attractive. The SET is down 7.2
percent in the past two days, the biggest two-day move in a
year.
"We're not in a rush to get in. The market is mainly driven
by flows so it's worth waiting for a while until it cools
down," said Suphan Settapanich, a fund manager at United Asset
Management said.
Upbeat retail sales and surprisingly bullish U.S. earnings
reports raised the market's appetite for risk elsewhere in
Asia. The MSCI index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS was up 0.75 percent by 0944 GMT.
Singapore .FTSTI closed up 0.14 percent, coming off early
gains to its highest since Sept. 3, 2008, with DBS Group
Holdings (DBSM.SI) rising 1.2 percent and United Overseas Bank
(UOBH.SI) up almost 1 percent.
Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC.SI) erased early gains
to end 1 percent lower upon resuming trade after announcing its
arrival as a serious wealth player and clinching a surprise
deal to buy Dutch ING's (ING.AS) Asia private banking unit for
$1.5 billion.
Malaysia's index .KLSE ended unchanged, falling back from
a 16-month high touched earlier and weighed down by financial
CIMB Group (CIMB.KL) and telecoms Axiata Group (AXIA.KL), which
each fell more than one percent.
Public Bank (PUBM.KL) was flat. It rose earlier after the
bank said third-quarter net profit rose a small 3.2 percent to
639 million ringgit.
Indonesia .JKSE eased 0.15 percent, led by a 0.6 percent
loss in telecoms giant Telkom Indonesia (TLKM.JK) and a 2.3
percent drop in International Nickel Indonesia (INCO.JK).
The Philippines .PSI was up 0.4 percent, with Energy
Development Corp (EDC.PS) up 2.1 percent and Megaworld (MEG.PS)
up 3.6 percent.
Vietnam .VNI gained 1.9 percent, with Vietnam
Construction and Import-Export VCG.HN up 5.4 percent and
Kinhbac City Development Co KBC.HN up 6.7 percent.
Elsewhere, Singapore Exchange (SGXL.SI) gained 0.7 percent.
Asia's second-largest listed bourse reported after the market
close an 11 percent rise in its first-quarter net profit,
broadly in line with forecasts, driven by a recovery in
stock-trading volumes.
TMB Bank TMB.BK lost 7.1 percent on expectations it would
report weak third quarter earnings expected after the market
close.
($1=33.37 Baht)
(Additional reporting by Satawasin Staporncharnchai)
(Editing by Jason Szep)
