Most Southeast Asian markets fall

Most Southeast Asian stock markets fell on Tuesday as heavyweight banks came under selling pressure and concern about European debt problems fuelled more foreign outflows. The pull-back, in falling volume, lopped another 0.7 percent off Indonesia's stock index to its lowest in more than three months, while Thailand's benchmark was at a three-week low.
Indonesia had fallen more than 8 percent in the previous three sessions. The Philippines' stock index dropped 1.95 percent to a near-one-month low, Malaysia's main index was flat and Vietnam eased 0.7 percent to a two-week low. Singapore bucked the trend, ending up 0.4 percent. The index reversed early losses in brisk trade of 1.46 times its average 30-day volume, against 0.7 times for Thai stocks and 0.9 for Indonesia.
Among active stocks in Singapore, Chinese shipbuilder Yangzijiang rose 3.1 percent after Credit Suisse raised its target price to S$2.40 from S$2.20 and kept its "outperform" rating, saying it was well-placed among Chinese yards to benefit from a recovery in container ship orders.
The region largely underperformed bigger Asian bourses, with the MSCI index for Thailand down 1.2 percent, MSCI Indonesia off 0.9 percent and MSCI Philippines losing 1.6 percent. The MSCI index of Asia Pacific stocks ex-Japan inched up 0.3 percent by 1009 GMT after the European Central Bank threw Portugal a temporary lifeline by buying up its bonds, as pressure mounted for Lisbon to seek an international bailout.
Banks extended losses in most of the region as some investors took the view that rising interest rates at a time of slowing economic growth could lead to higher bad loans. Bank Central Asia, Indonesia's biggest bank by market value, and Bank Mandiri, the largest bank by assets, both fell over 3 percent. Thailand's third-largest, Kasikornbank, dropped over 2.4 percent. In Bangkok, investors were wary of a possible rate rise. The Bank of Thailand reviews policy on Wednesday and analysts widely expect a 25 basis point increase.
However, Prasert Khanobthamchai, who helps manage the country's biggest mutual fund, Kasikorn Asset Management, said Thai economic trends looked positive for the second half and the index should hit 1,200 level then, after a correction in the first quarter. It closed at 1,013.39 on Tuesday.
Manila saw a mild $24 million in outflows on the day, Thomson Reuters data showed. Jakarta suffered another $149 million in outflows, adding to the $180 million on Monday, the biggest daily total in the past 2-years, Thomson Reuters data showed.
Elsewhere, communist Laos launched a stock market on Tuesday, a further step by the Southeast Asian country to harness local and foreign investment to develop the economy. Trading was inevitably thin on day one of the Lao Securities Exchange (LSX) with just two stocks listed - Banque Pour Le Commerce Exterieur Lao (BCEL), the country's largest bank, and Electricite du Laos Generation Company (EDL-Gen).