By Anusha Ravindranath
    May 2 (Reuters) - Southeast Asian stocks rose on Tuesday taking cues from
Asian peers, with Singapore surging to its highest level in 20 months buoyed by
better-than-expected earnings in the banking sector.
    Regional markets reopened after a long holiday weekend, with investors
making bullish bets, as an overnight rally on Wall Street and easing
geo-political concerns over North Korea boosted sentiment.
    In Asia, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
 gained 0.6 percent.
    Tensions over the Korean peninsula eased slightly after U.S. President
Donald Trump said on Monday he would be honoured to meet North Korea's supreme
leader Kim Jong Un under the right circumstances.
    Singapore shares gained as much as 1.01 percent to touch their
highest since Aug. 11, 2015. 
    Financials led the rally, after the city-state's biggest lender DBS Group's
 quarterly profit beat market expectations. Last week, smaller peer
United Overseas Bank had reported a strong quarterly profit on the
back of higher net interest income and trading income. 
    "Some of the earnings recovery stories were really intense, and we expect
the index to do a lot better in the second half as well," said Joanne Goh,
equity strategist, DBS Bank Ltd.
    Philippines shares were on track to post their biggest intraday
percentage gain in a week, supported by consumer and real estate stocks.
Property developer SM Prime Holdings was among the top performers,
rising up to 2.5 percent. 
    Malaysian stock index climbed to its highest in nearly two years.
Financials and consumer stocks supported the momentum, with CIMB Group Holdings
Bhd gaining as much as 3.5 percent.
    While Jakarta was up as much as 0.5 percent, Thai shares
remained largely flat. 
    Vietnam stock market was closed for a holiday. 
    
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SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS
  STOCK MARKETS                                          
 Change at 0515 GMT                                      
  Market             Current       previous     Pct Move
                                   close        
  Singapore          3201.64       3175.44      0.83
  Bangkok            1566.76       1566.32      0.03
  Manila             7714.3        7661.01      0.70
  Jakarta            5696.326      5685.298     0.19
  Kuala Lumpur       1776.21       1768.06      0.46
                                                
                                                
 Change so far this                             
 year                                           
  Market             Current       End prev yr  Pct Move
  Singapore          3201.64       2880.76      11.14
  Bangkok            1566.76       1542.94      1.54
  Manila             7714.3        6840.64      11.33
  Jakarta            5696.326      5296.711     7.54
  Kuala Lumpur       1776.21       1641.73      8.19
                                                
 
 (Reporting by Anusha Ravindranath in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry
Jacob-Phillips)