Most Southeast Asian stock markets posted small gains on Wednesday, with Malaysia and the Philippines climbing to one-week highs, as investors piled into commodities and energy shares amid higher oil prices. Trading volume for most share markets fell more than half their 90-day average ahead of the year-end holiday season.
Indonesia falls back Malaysia's main share index ended up 0.7 percent, extending its gain for a second session, while the Philippines share index rose for a fourth session, adding 0.5 percent. The equities indexes of Singapore and Thailand gained for a second session, adding 0.14 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively. Vietnam was almost unchanged. Bucking the trend, Indonesia fell 0.5 percent, halting an early climb to a one-week high, as investors cashed in gains in banking stocks, pulling PT Bank Negara Indonesia down 1.3 percent and PT Bank Central Asia down 3 percent.
Among the gainers, Thailand's top refiner Thai Oil Pcl rose 1.7 percent, Singapore commodities firm Noble Group gained 1.9 percent, Malaysia's palm plantation firm Kuala Lumpur Kepong climbed 2.8 percent. In Bangkok, banks outperformed the broader market, with the biggest lender, Bangkok Bank, rising 1.4 percent and third-ranked Kasikornbank climbing 1.6 percent to a one-week high as strong loan growth in November boosted hopes for their earnings. Thai banks reported solid loan growth of 9.9 percent year-on-year in November and analysts were optimistic for the outlook in December and next year due to strong economic prospects.