SE Asia Stocks-Thai shares close at 5-mth high; Vietnam falls to 9-wk low

HANOI, April 18 (Reuters) - 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.

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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)

(Reporting by Mai Nguyen; Editing by Anupama Dwivedi)