Southeast Asian stock markets rose in active sessions on Wednesday as investors picked up shares in companies expected to report good quarterly results, with banks leading the way on strong loan growth. Indonesia and Thailand climbed to the highest in nearly 12 weeks, both with market turnover rising above the 30-day average, similar to most others.
Thai stocks took in $208 million foreign inflows on the day, the biggest since February 2008, the exchange said. Indonesia received mild inflows of $18.6 million, Thomson Reuters data showed. Southeast Asian stock markets looked set to perform worse in the first quarter, led by Vietnam's 4.4 percent fall and the Philippines' 4.2 percent drop.
MSCI's index of Asian shares outside Japan gained 1.6 percent, by 0951 GMT. Banks gained across the region, with Thailand's biggest lender, Bangkok Bank surging 6 percent to the highest in almost 14 years, on expectations it would report strong quarterly results on loan growth.
In Manila, the main index jumped nearly 3 percent on Wednesday to the highest closing level in ten weeks. Shares in Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co (PLDT) soared 15.7 percent and main rival Globe Telecom Inc jumped nearly 13 percent on hopes PLDT's take-over of the industry's No 3 player could bolster pricing in the competitive mobile phone market.
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