Indonesian stocks climbed more than 1 percent on Tuesday while most other Southeast Asian stock markets moved higher amid selective buying of beaten-down big caps though investors remained cautious about the impact of high oil prices. Consumer and banking stocks that had led recent losses in such as Indonesia's PT Astra International, Thailand's Kasikornbank Pcl and Philippine Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co, recouped some lost ground.
The region's biggest gainer was Jakarta's Composite Index, which ended up 1.1 percent. During the previous four sessions, it was down a combined 3.6 percent. Indonesia posted foreign outflows since last week amid concerns about the government's plans to raise fuel prices or cut fuel subsidies.
Jakarta posted a combined $174 million foreign outflows in four sessions to Monday, according to Thomson Reuters data. Harry Su, head of research at Jakarta-based Bahana Securities, said higher fuel prices could push inflation this year to 8 percent compared with the broker's current forecast of 5 percent. He said the market could remain volatile due to the issue.
"I think it will depend a lot on what the government will do in terms of how much of an increase there will be. Obviously, it will be short-term pain but it's going to be longer-term gain for this economy," he said. "Over the longer run, we continue to remain quite optimistic and positive on the market," he said. Tuesday's rebound was a technical one that was "from bottom fishing as well," Su said.
Singapore's Straits Times Index was up 0.8 percent, the Thai SET index rose 0.99 percent, and the Philippine main index closed 0.44 percent higher. Stocks in Malaysia inched down 0.15 percent and Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange index fell 1.44 percent. Indonesia's Astra shares gained 1.6 percent, Thailand's Kasikornbank rose 1.1 percent and Philippine Metropolitan bank was up 0.8 percent. Asian shares and the euro edged higher on Tuesday as markets waited for a second liquidity injection from the European Central Bank to gauge risk appetite that has been somewhat dented by worries over high oil prices.
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