SE Asia Stocks-Most down; Philippine index bucks trend

BANGKOK, March 15 Most Southeast Asian stock markets fell on Tuesday tracking Asian equities after the Bank of Japan painted a gloomier view of the world's third-largest economy, but foreign-led buying kept regional losses small. Singapore's Straits Times Index eased 0.3 percent after a rally on Monday to a 2-1/2 month closing high. The Thai SET index fell 0.8 percent, reversing a two-day winning streak. The Jakarta composite index retreated from a near 8-month closing high hit the day before, with Indonesia's central bank set to meet Thursday to review its monetary policy. Stocks in Malaysia and Vietnam posted their first decline in four trading days. The Malaysian bourse said it recorded a net foreign buying in fifteen successive trading days to Tuesday, worth a combined 2.6 billion ringgit ($629.24 million). Franklin Templeton's Mark Mobius said Malaysia's currency is undervalued by 28 percent, which makes the country an attractive prospect for investors looking at Southeast Asian economies. Stocks in Asia, as measured by MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan, slipped 1.3 percent after three days of gains, with attention turning to a two-day meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve's rate-setters. Several sharemarkets in Southeast Asia, including Indonesia and the Philippines, continued reporting inflows on Tuesday as expectations the Fed may defer an interest rate hike from the meeting this week lifted risk sentiment, according to brokers. The Philippine index bucked the trend to rise 0.5 percent amid inflows into shares of Philippine Long Distance Telephone and Globe Telecom after San Miguel Corp and Telstra Corp ended joint venture negotiations. For Asian Companies click; SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS Change on the day Market Current previous close Pct Move Singapore 2839.44 2847.06 -0.27 Bangkok 1382.93 1394.27 -0.81 Manila 7148.26 7112.89 0.50 Jakarta 4849.781 4877.531 -0.57 Kuala Lumpur 1690.92 1700.31 -0.55 Ho Chi Minh 574.04 577.98 -0.68 Change so far this year Market Current End prev yr Pct Move Singapore 2839.44 2882.73 -1.50 Bangkok 1382.93 1288.02 7.37 Manila 7148.26 6952.08 2.82 Jakarta 4849.781 4593.008 5.59 Kuala Lumpur 1690.92 1692.51 -0.09 Ho Chi Minh 574.04 579.03 -0.86 ($1 = 4.1320 ringgit) (Reporting by Viparat Jantraprap; Editing by Sunil Nair)

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