Southeast Asian stock markets rose on Tuesday, regaining recent lost ground along with broader Asia, with Thai stocks bouncing back to end above 1,600 mark amid selective buying in banks and property shares on expectations of a policy interest rate cut. Thai benchmark SET index climbed 1.7 percent, led by shares of state-run Krung Thai Bank Pcl and housing developer Quality Houses Pcl.
Leading regional gains, Jakarta's Composite Index finished up 1.8 percent at 5,207.99, around one-week high. Shares in Malaysia's largest producer of integrated chemicals Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd also gained 1.4 percent after its first-quarter earnings beat expectations. Citi research said in a report that it expected Petronas's second-quarter results to retreat quarter-on-quarter due to lower product prices.