Southeast Asia stocks were sluggish on Tuesday, with Vietnam closing nearly 1 percent lower after bluechips lost ground, while Singapore fell, dragged down by oil and gas stocks. Vietnam slipped in afternoon trade, dragged down by energy stocks, with top-listed energy firm by value Petrovietnam Gas Joint Stock Corp down 1.54 percent.
Singapore finished down 0.3 percent, tracking lower global oil prices. Oil prices eased on Tuesday as concerns over a crude and refined fuel glut outweighed an expected cut in US shale production and a probable further draw in US crude inventories. It fell more than 1 percent in the previous session.
Oil rig builders Sembcorp Industries Ltd, Sembcorp Marine Ltd and Keppel Corp were among the biggest losers. Indonesian stocks however closed nearly 1 percent higher after the government started implementing its new tax amnesty programme to bring home billions of dollars citizens have parked overseas. "Positive sentiment from tax amnesty will continue, although the market will start looking closely at the effectiveness of this regulation," Richard Jerry, an analyst with BNI Securities said, adding investors would focus on Q2 earnings results starting later this week.
Bank Central Asia Tbk, the country's largest bank by market value, is expected to report its earnings on Wednesday after markets close. Philippine stocks recovered from the previous session's losses to close 0.6 percent higher, led by utilities and consumer cyclicals. "The market is no longer cheap. Analysts are therefore looking forward to the earnings season and hopefully we'll see a lot of companies beating expectations to justify further increase in share prices," said April Lee Tan, an analyst with Manila-based COL Financial Inc. Energy company Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc rose 3.35 percent, while International Container Terminal Services Inc gained 1.50 percent. Malaysia ended flat, while Thai stock markets were closed on Tuesday for a national holiday.