Most Southeast Asian stocks rise

Most Southeast Asian stock markets posted small gains on Monday as a surge in global oil prices spurred buying in energy and resource shares but investors were worried about rising costs in several other sectors. The region saw a choppy session and lower volume because of the unrest in Libya. Turnover in Malaysia fell to 0.6 times the 30-day average, with Singapore and Vietnam reporting similarly weak figures.
Thailand's benchmark SET index ended up almost 1 percent at 1,002.94, just shy of the day's high, as the top two energy firms PTT and PTT Exploration and Production gained more than 2 percent. The two stocks weigh around 20 percent in the index.Broker Citi Investment Research Analysis has raised its target price for PTT Exploration and Production to 175 baht, citing the windfall revenue arising from uncertainty in the Middle East and North Africa, it said in a research note dated March 6. The shares closed at 182 baht on Monday. The broker was raising its Brent oil price forecast to $105 a barrel for 2011 and $100 for 2012 from $90, it said.
Indonesia's main index rose 0.5 percent, the Philippine index edged up 0.1 percent and Vietnam's main index rose 1.96 percent, adding to a 1.5 percent rise on Friday. Singapore's Straits Times Index came off its day's high to end up 0.2 percent, but Malaysia's index ended down 0.45 percent, hovering in negative territory throughout the session. Asian stocks in general declined. The MSCI ex-Japan index was down 0.8 percent at 0950 GMT.
Among outperformers, Singapore's Sembcorp Marine, the world's second-largest oil rig builder, climbed 2.4 percent and Indonesia's largest gas distributor, PT Perusahaaan Gas Negara, jumped 3.5 percent. Banks were weak, with Malaysia's biggest, Maybank, down 0.3 percent, Singapore's DBS Group Holdings off 1 percent and top Thai lender Bangkok Bank 1.5 percent lower.
Manila added inflows of $3.3 million on Monday and Indonesia $67 million, after a huge $672 million in outflows on Friday, Thomson Reuters data showed. Dealers said Indonesia's outflows on Friday included a block sale in Bumi Resources, involving a swap between mining investment fund Vallar and Bakrie initiated in November last year. Malaysia had $10.7 million in outflows on Monday but Thailand posted net inflows of $32 million, exchange data showed.