Thai stocks rose on Tuesday, turning round after three days of losses as investors bought energy shares as oil firmed, but Malaysia ended flat, shrugging off the prime minister's promise of economic reforms. Other major markets in the region were little changed, with Singapore edging up 0.15 percent and Indonesia inching up 0.13 percent. Bucking the trend, Vietnam fell nearly 1 percent.
Fund inflows into Southeast Asian bourses have shrunk in response to their stretched valuations, with Malaysia trading at 15.6 times projected 2010 earnings, followed by Indonesia's 13.75, the Philippines' 13.2 and Thailand's 11.33.
But appetite for the region's equities remains firm amid optimism about investment spending in both the public and private sectors, which bodes well for economic growth despite uncertainty around the sustainability of the global recovery, analysts said.
In Bangkok, the SET index ended up 2.3 percent, erasing a loss of nearly 2 percent over the previous three sessions, even though foreign investors cut their net buying to just $10.18 million on the day, according to Thomson Reuters data. They have bought 47.3 billion baht in the past 25 sessions.
PTT, the biggest energy firm and by far the biggest stock on the Thai market, jumped 3.2 percent, while subsidiary PTT Exploration and Production rose 3.1 percent. Siam Cement rose 2.8 percent to its highest in 29 months on earnings hopes. KL Kepong rose 1.1 percent, Axiata Group was up 0.3 percent. Indonesia's index inched up 0.13 percent to 2,798.27, after climbing earlier and approaching the record high of 2,838.76 set on January 14, 2008. Bank Mandiri gained 1.9 percent and Unilever rose 1.2 percent.
In Singapore, Singapore Telecoms fell 0.3 percent while Wilmar International rose 1.5 percent. In the Philippines, shares climbed to their highest in more than two years and ended the session up 0.77 percent amid favourable economic news, with Ayala Land up 3.9 percent and Philex Mining 3.9 percent higher.
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