Southeast Asian stock markets pushed higher on Tuesday as a strong oil market attracted broad-based buying in commodities-related stocks and volume picked up, although continuing concern over eurozone sovereign debt kept foreign inflows in check.
Philippine shares ended up 0.4 percent, hitting an all-time high at one point, while Indonesia gained 1.3 percent and Thailand rose 0.8 percent, both around four-month highs.
Vietnam climbed 1.6 percent and Singapore rose 1.1 percent after Monday's 0.9 percent fall but Malaysia was flat. The Malaysian bourse said domestic institutions bought shares worth a net 35 million ringgit ($11 million) and foreign investors bought 7.4 million ringgit ($2.35 million).
Foreign investors bought Philippine shares worth $21 million and sold Thai shares worth a net 1.8 billion baht ($56.68 million), Thomson Reuters and stock exchange data showed. Garry Evans, HSBC's Global Head of Equity Strategy, was cautious on Southeast Asia, rating Indonesia and Malaysia as neutral, the Philippines and Thailand as underweight and Singapore as the only overweight market.
"ASEAN is a bit over-owned and it's not particularly cheap so it's really thin in the category of good value," Evans told a briefing in Singapore. In Manila, Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co rose 0.7 percent after Monday's 4.6 percent surge as lower Philippine inflation for December bolstered hopes of a possible rate cut by the central bank this month.
Sentiment towards commodities-related shares was resilient as oil rose towards $113 a barrel on Tuesday. Among actively traded shares, Thai energy explorer PTT Exploration and Production Pcl gained 1.1 percent. Indonesian coal firm PT Adaro Energy Tbk rose 2.2 percent and Malaysia's Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd was up 0.5 percent.