Most Southeast Asian stocks higher

Southeast Asian stock markets generally rose on Tuesday as some investors looked for bargains among regional big-caps but, with the exception of Malaysia, the main markets ended lower on the month, turning round from April due to worries over eurozone debt.
Malaysia's index outperformed on the day, finishing up 1 percent and climbing at one point to its highest in more than four months, helped by $192 million in foreign inflows, the biggest since the bourse started publishing data in February. Other regional markets hovered around one-week highs, with Singapore's Straits Times Index adding 0.6 percent and Indonesia's main index edging up 0.3 percent. Thai stocks inched lower, however, turning around from an early rise, with analysts saying investors were wary of political risk in the run-up to a general election on July 3.
"Global sentiment looked to be improving but Thai stocks retreated as investors wanted to wait for the outcome of the general election," said Viwat Techapoonphol, a strategist with broker Tisco Securities. Global stocks mostly rose on a report that Germany could make concessions to facilitate a new aid package for Greece. April economic data from Japan also showed industrial activity had begun to recover from the March earthquake.
The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan rose 1.5 percent by 0958 GMT while the MSCI index for Southeast Asia was up 0.5 percent. On the month, Malaysia's main share index rose 1.52 percent, making it Asia's best performing bourse. It gained inflows for a third month in May, adding $510 million, exchange data showed.
Among advancers on Tuesday, Malaysian national power producer Tenaga Nasional surged 9.1 percent after the government said electricity tariffs would go up by an average of 7.12 percent next month. Singapore's banks gained as total bank lending rose 2.2 percent in April. The second-biggest lender, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, rose 1.2 percent and third-ranked United Overseas Bank Ltd gained 0.8 percent. In Bangkok, big-caps led decliners, with market leader PTT and top industrial conglomerate Siam Cement each falling over 1 percent.