South East Asian stocks mostly higher

Southeast Asian stock markets rose on Thursday as oil dipped and some investors took heart from news of a peace plan for Libya, with airlines in particular seeing strong demand. But volume across the region was relatively weak as many investors preferred to wait and see what happened to the peace plan. The energy-driven Thai stock market saw turnover drop to 0.8 times its 30-day average and oil-linked shares dropped.
Share markets ended off their day's highs, with Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand posting only small gains on the day. Oil prices briefly dropped by more than $3 after the Arab League said a peace plan for Libya was under consideration, before recovering.
"There's still uncertainty. It's an excuse to buy the oversold region and investors took the view that the situation will not drag on for too long," said Warut Siwasariyanon, head of investment advisory at Finansia Syrus Securities in Bangkok. "Apart from the oil price fall, there's also positive economic guidance from US stock markets that gave support to Asia," he said.
Unrest in the Middle East and North Africa has driven the recent oil price rise, clouding the outlook for the earnings of Southeast Asian companies and triggering risk aversion. Fund flows were mixed on the day, with Indonesia reporting inflows of $35.2 million and the Philippines having outflows of $3.1 million, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Malaysia had $40 million in outflows and Thailand posted $56 million in outflows, exchange data showed. The Philippine share index rose 1.6 percent, climbing at one point to its highest in more than a week. Bucking the trend, Vietnam fell 1.2 percent to the lowest in almost three months.
Positive US economic news helped lift most Asian stock markets on Thursday, with the MSCI index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan up 0.8 percent. Thailand's national carrier, Thai Airways International, surged 7.2 percent, Malaysia's AirAsia climbed 2.5 percent and Singapore Airlines, Southeast Asia's biggest airline, rose 0.8 percent.
Energy-linked stocks were among sectors to suffer. Thai oil exploration firm PTT Exploration and Production lost 2.5 percent and PT Indo Tambangraya Megah, Indonesia's third-biggest coal miner, slumped 4.8 percent. Palm plantation stocks were among bright spots as Malaysian palm oil futures rose to a one-week peak on Thursday, buoyed by a potential import tariff cut in top consumer China. Shares in Wilmar International, the world's largest listed palm oil company, gained 1.8 percent and Golden Agri-Resources climbed 2.2 percent.