Most Southeast Asian stock markets gained on Thursday as high global oil prices lifted energy-related stocks, but concerns over tighter monetary policy squeezed Singapore's banks. Several beaten-down markets, including Thailand and Indonesia, saw a return of foreign funds after recent sell-offs, sending Thai SET index to its highest in almost four weeks and Indonesia to near a one-week high.
A shift in global asset allocation has funnelled money in recent weeks to developed equities markets, drawn by relatively attractive valuations. But dealers said investors were starting to find good value again in Southeast Asia. The Thai market saw foreign inflows of 6.3 billion baht ($206 million) on Thursday, the biggest daily inflows since February 2008, the exchange said.
The Thai stock market ended up 1.4 percent, with a weekly gain of 4.8 percent and combined inflows of 14.6 billion baht ($477 million) for the week to Thursday after straight outflows of $366 million last week, the exchange data showed. The Thai stock market is shut on Friday for a national holiday. According to Thomson Reuters Datastream, Thai companies are cheaper now than two months ago, trading at 11.29 times projected 12-month earnings, compared to 12.1 times in late December, based on the MSCI's Thailand index.
Indonesia's composite index gained 0.5 percent, with $212 million inflows in the week to Thursday, Thomson Reuters data showed. The Philippine's index climbed 1.4 percent to a one-week high, Malaysia inched up 0.15 percent. Singapore and Vietnam bucked the trend, falling 0.4 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively.
Asian stock markets rose on Thursday, buoyed by strong corporate earnings and as the Federal Reserve expressed cautious optimism about the strength of the US economic recovery. The MSCI index of shares excluding Japan was 0.34 percent higher by 1030 GMT Volume in the region remained weak, with market turnover of Thailand and Indonesia both falling to 0.8 times their 30-day average, followed by Malaysia's 0.7 times.
Turnover of Singapore was relatively active of 1.2 times its 30-day average. Singapore shares pulled back amid concerns about rising interest rates hurting bank stocks. Singapore earlier on Thursday revised downward its GDP growth for 2010 and warned that inflation will be higher than previously forecast, raising expectations of further monetary policy tightening. Top lender DBS Group Holdings fell 0.5 percent and United Overseas Bank lost 0.7 percent. High global oil prices, with London crude prices extended gains to hold at 2-1/2 year highs of more than $104 a barrel on Thursday, bolstered sentiment in energy-related sectors.