Southeast Asian stocks regain some lost ground

Southeast Asian stock markets gained on Tuesday as hopes for a solution to Greece's debt problems buoyed sentiment across Asia, while a rebound in global crude prices lifted resource shares. The markets in Singapore and Indonesia climbed more than 1 percent, on top of a small rise on Monday. Thai stocks jumped 1.4 percent, ending a four-day fall.
Malaysia inched up 0.1 percent, Philippine shares added 1.4 percent and Vietnam jumped 2.6 percent. The region's gains were supported by flows of foreign funds into most markets, led by $97 million for Malaysia, on top of $303 million in the past seven sessions.
Indonesia had $42 million, reversing a $25 million outflow in the previous three days. Thailand had $14.75 million in inflows, the exchange said. Bargain-hunting emerged as share prices for many firms had fallen to an attractive level, dealers in Bangkok said. The Thai market suffered a net $1.2 billion of outflows from the start of May until Monday as investors cut their exposure ahead of a July 3 general election and as economic volatility clouded market sentiment globally.
"Near term, we expect pressure from external and internal headwinds to remain," broker UBS Investment Research said in a research note. But capital flows should turn positive again if global economic news gets better, "even if the post-election government is distracted by political uncertainties", it said. Among gainers in Southeast Asia, palm oil shares followed gains in Malaysian palm oil futures.
The world's largest listed palm oil firm, Wilmar International, rose 0.9 percent after a 2 percent drop on Monday. Astra Agro Lestari, Indonesia's largest listed plantation firm, gained 1.3 percent. In Bangkok, shares in top energy firm PTT and its group members tracked the global oil rebound. PTT shares rose 1.5 percent and PTT Aromatics and Refining, the largest integrated aromatics refinery, surged 4.1 percent.
Among bright spots in the region, Indonesia's Bumi Resources, Asia's biggest thermal coal exporter, jumped 4.2 percent. It said its average coal sale price in the second quarter could reach $90 per tonne, 26 percent higher than in the same period a year ago. Singaporean property developers CapitaLand and Keppel Land outperformed as some investors saw value in their stock prices after a steep sell-down last week. CapitaLand rose 3.3 percent and Keppel jumped 4.6 percent.