* Singapore, Indonesia, Philippine around 1-week high

  * Commodities in demand amid rising inflation

  * Palm oil shares track crude prices higher

  By Viparat Jantraprap

  BANGKOK, March 1 (Reuters) - Southeast Asian stock markets ended higher on Tuesday as investors bought commodity shares because of rising inflation expectations and banks gained due to the prospect of higher interest rates around the region.

  Indonesia rose 1.2 percent and Thailand gained 0.7 percent, led by banks, after both reported inflation data for February and economists forecast a rise in interest rates there.

  Thailand's Government Pension Fund (GPF) said commodity sectors would help the fund perform well amid high inflation.

  " The Middle East situation has affected oil prices and inflation. The government pension fund wants to generate the kind of return that beats inflation," said Secretary-General Sopawadee Lertmanaschai.

  Other markets in the region gained, led by Singapore's Straits Time Index, climbing almost 2 percent to around a one-week high of 3,067.60.

  Singapore suffered a 5.3 percent loss in February, its worst monthly fall since May and the second worst in Southeast Asia after Vietnam's 9.6 percent.

  Malaysia and the Philippines each gained less than 1 percent on the day. Vietnam rose 1 percent after losing 10 percent in February after a dong devaluation.

  Volume was relatively active across the region on Tuesday, with turnover in Singapore rising to 1.4 times its 30-day average, followed by Indonesia's 1.2 times. Turnover in Malaysia and Vietnam both fell short of their 30-day average.

  The Singapore Exchange started all-day trading on Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

  Indonesia gained nearly $65 million in inflows on the day, the biggest in two weeks, snapping four sessions of outflows, Thomson Reuters data showed.

  Malaysia suffered an outflow of $27 million on the day, after straight outflows over the past three weeks, the exchange said.

  Asian stocks rose on Tuesday, tracking U.S. shares, which gained after optimistic remarks from influential investor Warren Buffett, even though Chinese manufacturing growth slowed to a six-month low.

  The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan rose 1.2 percent by 1003 GMT.

  Shares in palm oil firms climbed across the region as Malaysian palm oil futures rose 1.3 percent.

  Singapore's Wilmar International, the world's largest palm oil plantation firm by market value, gained 1.4 percent and Malaysia's second-largest palm company, IOI Corp, added 0.7 percent.

  PT Astra Agro Lestari Tbk, Indonesia's largest listed plantation firm, was up 1.8 percent, while Singapore's Golden Agri Resources surged 8.5 percent and Noble Group jumped 6.8 percent after they both reported strong fourth-quarter earnings.

  In Bangkok, TMB Bank gained 4.4 percent after it reported healthy loan growth in January while in Jakarta Bank Central Asia, the biggest bank by market value, was up 2.4 percent.

  Energy has been the best-performing sector in global emerging markets this year and remained attractively valued, broker Citi Investment Reserach said in a research note.

  " Sharply higher energy prices are a clear threat to the world economy and to emerging markets. However, most likely, this phase will pass, oil prices will be contained and markets will rally. We remain bullish on emerging market equities for 2011," it said. (Additional reporting by Wirat Burakanokthanasan in Bangkok Editing by Alan Raybould)

  2011-03-01 18:33:41