Southeast Asian stock markets gained on Wednesday amid expectations of fresh US economic stimulus, with rising crude oil prices swelling demand for heavily weighted commodity shares across the region. Share markets recouped recent losses as growing risk appetite lured more inflows into equities, although that pushed up their currencies, which made investors wary about possible intervention moves by the authorities.
Singapore posts biggest gain in 4 months Singapore's Straits Times Index rose 1.7 percent, its biggest one-day rise in almost four months, Malaysia gained 0.7 percent, setting a 33-month high, and Indonesia jumped 1.8 percent, moving near a record hit last week.
Thailand climbed 1.6 percent, approaching the 1,000 mark last seen before the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, while the Philippines ended up 0.7 percent. Vietnam rose 0.7 percent. Asian and European shares in general rose on increasing expectations that the US Federal Reserve will ease policy to support the economy and following a positive fourth-quarter forecast from computer chipmaker Intel.
The dollar remained weak after details of the last meeting of the US Federal Reserve suggested the central bank was closer to injecting fresh stimulus into the ailing economy. By 0938 GMT, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index was up 1.2 percent, led by a 2.3 percent gain in MSCI's India index and a 2.04 percent rise in Singapore.
In Singapore, the local index hovered around 28-month highs, led by palm oil companies, with Golden Agri-Resources jumping 9.2 percent and Indofood Agri Resources climbing 7.9 percent amid firm palm oil prices. Malaysia's IOI Corp rose 2.5 percent while Indonesia's Astra Agro Lestari gained 3.2 percent and Thailand's top energy firm, PTT, rose over 1 percent.
In Thailand, the imposition of a 15 percent withholding tax on interest payments and capital gains earned by foreign investors on Thai bonds did little to affect stock market sentiment, dealers said. Bangkok-based Sukit Udomsirikul, a strategist at broker SCB Securities, said the measures had no significant impact on stocks or bond markets. But he said investors were still cautious over further possible measures to deal with the rising baht. "The policy interest rate may be maintained at an upcoming meeting on October 20 to help ease inflow pressure as the baht tends to appreciate further," he added.