Southeast Asia's stock markets posted gains on Wednesday led by commodity and energy shares, with Thailand hitting a more than two-month closing high helped by buying in industrial and banking stocks. But investors were still wary of uncertainty over the human and economic toll inflicted by Japan's earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis and possible oil price rises as a result of ongoing violence in Libya and turmoil in the Middle East.
Indonesia gained 1.1 percent to a more than one-week high led by mining shares, Thailand rose 0.7 percent to a two month high on energy and banking stocks while Singapore was up 0.7 percent, its best since March 14. Malaysia closed 0.2 percent firmer to its near two-week high and Philippines edged to its highest in a week. Except in Singapore, traded share volume in all other markets was lower than their respective 30-day averages due to the impact of crises in Japan and the Arab world.
Analysts expect investors to buy back into risky assets when global factors are more favourable, with valuations of the regional markets becoming more attractive after a recent slump. Thailand is trading at 11.6 times this year's projected earnings, the lowest in the region and compared to 12.2 for the whole of Asia. Singapore and Philippines are trading at 12.6, lower than the 13.3 of Malaysia and 13.8 of Indonesia, Thomson Reuters StarMine data showed.
In Bangkok, a 2.6 percent rise in Thailand's top industrial conglomerate, Siam Cement and 1.7 percent climb for PTT Exploration and Production drove the index, while better earning hopes after strong loan growth figures boosted banking shares. Mining shares helped boost Jakarta, with top miner Bumi Resources gaining over 3.3 percent, which analysts said was due to increased interest in coal with many governments reviewing planned nuclear energy projects. "The outlook for coal prices is quite positive after the Japan crisis," said Harry Su, head of research at Jakarta-based Bahana Securities. "Nuclear power plants are being reviewed and more countries would go for coal-fired power plants."
In Singapore, commodity firm Olam International gained 4.2 percent on positive outlook and attractive valuations following a recent correction in soft commodity prices. Palm oil firm Golden Agri-Resources rose 3.8 percent on hopes that oil supply constraints due to Middle East tensions would boost demand for biofuels. Indonesia saw a net inflow of $25.9 million on Wednesday after recording $36.6 million outflow in the first two days of the week, while Malaysia saw $6.7 million worth of outflows.