South East Asian markets post limited gains

Most Southeast Asian stock markets posted limited gains on Monday following the passage of Greece's austerity bill and amid selective buying of dividend yielding shares and stocks that have strong earnings prospects. Market players picked bluechips such as Singapore Telecommunications Ltd, Indonesia's PT Astra International Tbk and Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co, among last week's beaten-down stocks.
Investors appeared reluctant to buy riskier assets, awaiting further steps needed before the shadow of a debt default can be lifted. Regional indexes were largely capped in range, with turnover for most markets falling short of a 30-day average.
Some brokers said markets remained hopeful the Greece deal could be wrapped up successfully. "Overall, markets reacted positively to the Greek parliament approval and hopes remained that the deal could be wrapped," said Pichai Lertsupongkij, head of investment advisory services at broker Thanachart Securities in Bangkok.
Singapore's Straits Times Index edged up 0.6 percent, Malaysia's main index inched up 0.07 percent, the Thai SET index was 0.4 percent higher and Jakarta's Composite Index rose 1.3 percent.
The Philippine index was up 0.4 percent. Bucking the trend, Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange index dropped 2.3 percent amid profit taking. Singapore Telecommuni-cations gained 1.95 percent after it comforted investors by reiterating a forecast for low single-digit full-year revenue growth in Singapore and stable dividends from its associate firms.
Thai Oil Pcl, Thailand's largest oil refiner, gained as much as 1.75 percent to a six-month high after it reported a 48 percent fall in quarterly net profit that was better than expected and announced a dividend of 2 baht.
Philippine Long Distance was up 0.9 percent and Indonesia's PT Astra International Tbk, Indonesia's leading motorcycle dealer, rose 3 percent, after falling nearly 10 percent in the past five sessions.
Among bright spots, Thai banks rose more than 1 percent to a five-month high after the government said commercial banks will have to pay a levy of 0.47 percent on deposits, up from 0.4 percent currently, to help fund the servicing of certain government debt.