Stocks in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines rose on Wednesday but concerns about the eurozone debt crisis capped gains and helped pull down other markets in Southeast Asia, with weakness in bank stocks further depressing Thailand. In general, bargain-hunting lent support to the region but trading volume was light and dominated by short-term traders.
Jakarta's Composite Index (JCI) climbed 1.8 percent, reversing from Tuesday's 2.9 percent loss. Market players picked beaten-down blue chips such as coal miner PT Adaro Energy Tbk, sending the stock 5.3 percent higher. Gina Nasution, senior equity analyst at broker Reliance Securities in Jakarta, said the problems in Europe still hung over the market.
"After yesterday's profit-taking, the JCI is up even though it's still fluctuating. Sentiment is still moving around the situation in Europe," she said. Malaysia and the Philippines gained 0.7 percent and 0.9 percent respectively. Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam lost 0.2 percent, 1.5 percent and 0.8 percent respectively.
Foreign investors bought Indonesian shares worth $24 million, Malaysian stock for 40 million ringgit ($12.8 million) and the Philippines for $4.9 million, Thomson Reuters and stock exchange data showed. Manila's top actively traded stock was food-to-property firm Alliance Global Group Inc , surging as much as 5.1 percent to a one-month high. Citigroup said Alliance Global was among its top picks.
"We favour liquid stocks that have been relative underperformers through the recent downturn and have dominant industry positions and are leveraged on domestic consumption and 'infra' themes," the broker said in a research note. In Bangkok, late selling sent the SET index nearly 2 percent lower at one stage. Banks underperformed the market, with the bank subindex sliding 3.9 percent and state-run Krung Thai Bank Pcl plunging 7.14 percent.
Worries about loan growth have arisen because of severe flooding in Thailand since July. Market turnover in Thailand fell to 0.8 times the monthly average as investors waited to assess the impact of the flooding overwhelming manufacturing plants in central provinces.
Thailand's central bank left its policy rate unchanged at 3.50 percent on Wednesday, taking a pause from more than a year of tightening because of mounting economic losses from the country's worst floods in half a century. European stocks and Asian shares mostly rose on Wednesday on optimism policymakers will take major steps at a summit this weekend to solve the debt crisis and pushing to one side a cut in Spain's sovereign credit rating. Singaporean oil rig builder Sembcorp Marine Ltd rose as much as 4.2 percent, lifted by news a subsidiary had won a $100 million contract in Australia. Malaysia's oil and gas services provider Kencana Petroleum Bhd rose 3.7 percent.