Thai shares climbed to three-week highs on Wednesday, in line with most others in the region, as expectations of better earnings outlook boosted large-cap energy stocks including Thai Oil Pcl and PTT Global Chemical Pcl. The main SET index rose 0.5 percent, extending its gains for a third day to close at 1,214.13. Thai Oil jumped 4.3 percent, with about 30.26 million shares changing hands, 3.9 times the average full-day volume in the last 30 sessions.
Energy shares, dogged by concerns over the impact of weak global oil prices, have been a target of short sellers, market traders said. "The poor second-quarter earnings by energy firms, such as Thai Oil, confirmed the worst fears of market investors," said Viwat Techapoonphol, senior strategist of broker Tisco Securities. "People are more upbeat on the sector's outlook and we saw short sellers bought back energy stocks today," he added. Gains in market big-caps lifted other Southeast Asian stock markets, with the Philippine index up 0.5 percent at a 1-month high of 5,308.67. Bucking the trend, Singapore's Straits Times Index fell 0.5 percent as investors booked profits ahead of a National Day holiday on Thursday.