All Southeast Asian stock markets finished in positive territory on Tuesday, with Indonesia rising 1.5 percent after nine consecutive sessions of falls. The dollar inched up against the yen and euro as some investors emerged out of the holiday lull to hunt for bargains with the market entering the last trading stretch of the year, while oil prices were steady as Opec and non-Opec members are set to start curbing output in less than a week.
Asian stocks were steady with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan marginally up as of 0948 GMT. Indonesian shares rose on bargain-hunting after the Jakarta Composite Index shed over 5 percent in the previous nine sessions. Consumer stocks led the gains. Conglomerate Astra International Tbk PT finished 4.1 percent higher, while cigarette maker Gudang Garam Tbk PT ended up 4.3 percent.
Some year-end window dressing are expected to support trading this week, said brokerage Reliance Securities. Philippine shares closed 1.4 percent higher, boosted by industrial and real estate stocks. Property firm SM Prime Holdings Inc rose 3.3 percent, SM Investments Corp ended 2 percent higher, and snacks and beverage maker Universal Robina Corp jumped 4.7 percent. The market was little affected by budget deficit data, said Jose Alberto Santos, head of sales at Campos Lanuza & Co Inc, adding that it was more of a correction as the local market had devalued a lot over the last few months. The Philippine government posted a budget deficit of 19.1 billion Philippine pesos ($384.16 million) in November, soaring from the previous month's gap of 2.3 billion pesos. Singapore stocks closed half a percent higher after trading flat for most of the session. Financials led the gains with Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp Ltd rising nearly 1 percent. Telecom giant Singapore Telecommunications Ltd rose more than half a percent.
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