Southeast Asia Stocks: Thai shares close at 5-mth hHigh; M'sia 2nd day gain, Vietnam falls

HANOI: Thai shares on Friday closed at their highest since late November on solid buying while Vietnam's benchmark tumbled to a nine-week low amid widespread selling.
    Bangkok's SET Index edged up 0.03 percent to mark a
third straight day of gains, led by telecom firm Advanced Info
Service Pcl which rose 1.27 percent.
    "Decent foreign equity inflows may continue to support SET
in the near term," KGI Securities said in a note to clients.
    Foreign investors were net buyers of shares worth 7.5
billion baht ($233.1 million) in the $386-billion market in
seven consecutive trading sessions as of Friday 
, Reuters data showed.
    But analysts expect the index to face some selling off
around a resistance level of 1420.
    "Catalysts for possible near-term correction remain local
institutional selling and the longer than expected drag from
politics," KGI said.
    Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur Composite Index witnessed a
second day of gains after hitting a three-week low on Wednesday.
It edged up 0.12 percent to end at 1852.69.
    The Vietnamese index, however, plummeted 2.58 percent to its
lowest level since Feb. 2 on widespread offloading of stocks
amid strong selling on expectations of further losses.
 
    VN Index has dropped 5.16 percent this week, losing
its title as Southeast Asia's best performer so far this year.
    Stock markets in Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines
were closed for a holiday and will resume trading on Monday.    
   
SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS
 Change on day
 Market             Current     Prev Close    Pct Move
 TR SE Asia Index*   421.09        421.55       -0.11
 Kuala Lumpur       1852.69       1850.54       +0.12
 Bangkok            1409.18       1408.78       +0.03
 Ho Chi Minh         565.33        580.31       -2.58
 
 Change on year 
 Market             Current       End 2013    Pct Move
 TR SE Asia Index*   421.09        388.37       +8.42
 Singapore          3253.80       3167.43       +2.73
 Kuala Lumpur       1852.69       1866.96       -0.76
 Bangkok            1409.18       1298.71       +8.51
 Jakarta            4897.05       4274.18      +14.57
 Manila             6671.18       5889.83      +13.27
 Ho Chi Minh         565.33        504.63      +12.03
 
* The Thomson Reuters South East Asia Index is a
highly representative indicator of stocks listed in Indonesia,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
($1 = 32.1750 Thai Baht)- Reuters