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SE Asia Stocks-S'pore, Malaysia, Thailand turn round, end higher

Published: 22 May 2009 01:58:35 PST

* Oil shares and palm planters leading the way

* Indonesia fared best on the week

BANGKOK, May 22 - Southeast Asian stock markets mostly recovered from early falls on Friday, with energy-related shares among the advancers, including Singapore's Golden Agri, Malaysia's Tenaga, Thai PTTEP and Indonesia's Adaro Energy.

Singapore's index <.FTSTI> climbed 1.6 percent, recouping a loss of almost 1 percent in morning trade, Malaysia <.KLSE> gained 0.9 percent after earlier slipping 0.5 percent, and Thai stocks <.SETI> rose almost 1 percent after dropping 1 percent.

Indonesia <.JKSE> eased 0.2 percent on resuming trade after closing on Thursday for a market holiday. Despite the loss, the Jakarta index posted a 7.5 percent gain for the week, Southeast Asia's best performer, followed by Singapore's 4.9 percent.

Asian stocks elsewhere skidded, hurt by fears that any recovery in the global economy would be sluggish. A cut announced by Standard & Poor's in its outlook for Britain's credit rating also alarmed investors.

"The S&P news was another fresh profit-taking trigger for many stock markets. The late rebound, especially for the Thai market, came from trading portfolios," said Pichai Lertsupongkij, head of sales at Thanachart Securities.

Energy-related shares were supported by oil prices <CLc1>, which hovered above $61 a barrel on Friday, while palm planters rose along with Malaysian palm futures, which rebounded from a three-week low a day earlier. [O/R] and [nJAK474439]

Malaysia's biggest power producer, Tenaga Nasional <TENA.KL>, rose 3.4 percent, Thai oil firm PTT Exploration and Production <PTTE.BK> gained 1.6 percent and Indonesia's top coal producer, Adaro Energy <ADRO.JK>, climbed 13.3 percent.

Singapore-listed Indonesian palm oil producer Golden Agri Resources <GAGR.SI> rose 6.9 percent, Malaysian planter IOI Corp <IOIB.KL> gained 1.7 percent and Thai palm grower Univanich Palm <UVAN.BK> added 1.1 percent.

Malaysia's Petronas Gas <PGAS.KL> rose 1.1 percent to 9.6 ringgit. Broker OSK upgraded Petronas Gas to buy and raised its fair value to 10.80 rgt per share. ($1 = 34.36 Baht)