Most Southeast Asian stocks higher

Major Southeast Asian stock markets posted limited gains on Tuesday, with risk appetite weak across the region, but investors picked up stocks in companies expected to report good results, including Thailand's banks. Investors turned cautious as eurozone finance ministers seemed to be in no rush to beef up their rescue fund, and some wanted to see the reaction in US stocks to news Apple Inc CEO Steve Jobs was taking medical leave.
"The resolution on whether the EU group will enhance the lending capacity of the emergency fund might take longer," said Bangkok-based Rakphong Chaisuparakul at broker KGI Securities. Stocks in Singapore ended up 0.34 percent, taking their lead from Chinese stocks, which bounced off the day's low as strong bank earnings helped offset downward pressure from signs of a further clampdown on lending.
Singapore's volume remained weak at 0.9 times its 30-day average, similar to most in the region. Equities indexes in Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand also eked out small gains while Malayysia and the Philippines fell Asian shares elsewhere were mostly higher, with the MSCI index of Asia and Pacific shares excluding Japan rising 0.63 percent by 0954 GMT.
In Singapore, gains in the offshore and marine sector due to the winning of contracts by rig-builder Sembcorp Marine lent support to the broad market. Sembcorp rose 2.7 percent. Singapore's Straits Times Index ended at 3,249.58 on Tuesday. Technical signals pointed to a fall in Singapore stocks in the near term, with support at 3,220. A break of this would put the next target at 3,182.
In Bangkok, investors selectively bought banking shares, with sixth-ranked Bank of Ayudhya rising 0.9 percent on expectations it would be among Thai banks to report impressive earnings for the fourth quarter, dealers said. Number three Siam Commercial Bank gained 0.8 percent in early trade but ended flat on the day. After the market close it reported a 26 percent rise in quarterly net profit, beating analysts' forecasts.