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Thursday May 15, 6:30 PMSE Asian Stocks-Mostly up on commodity stocks, Vietnam slidesSINGAPORE, May 15 (Reuters) - Most Southeast Asian stock markets rose on Thursday helped by gains in commodity-related stocks such as Malaysia's IOI Corp and rig builder Keppel Corp , though Vietnamese shares tumbled.Singapore's benchmark Straits Times Index rose 0.28 percent and Malaysian stocks ended 0.5 percent higher, while Indonesia edged 0.02 percent up. But Vietnam fell 1.86 percent, sliding for the ninth straight session to take losses for the year to 50 percent. In Vietnam, losses were led by Saigon Securities Incorp , which fell 6.7 percent, while Vinamilk , the country's top dairy farm, closed 1.6 percent lower. Thai stocks were up 0.79 percent while Philippine shares closed 0.55 percent higher, headed by geothermal firm PNOC-Energy Development Corp , which ended 7.7 percent up. "The markets appear resilient but the trading volume has been very low -- this means that the recovery is still not convincing. We haven't seen the effects of the U.S. recession yet," said Kevin Scully, chairman of NRA Capital. In Singapore, rig-makers surged in late trading to post strong gains after oil prices edged towards $125 per barrel [O/R]. The world's largest offshore oil rig-builder Keppel Corp rose 3.4 percent while Chinese-based shipbuilder and rig maker Cosco Corp ended 2.9 percent higher. "We believe that (high oil prices) would have the effect of prolonging the rig-building cycle. The sustenance of crude oil prices at higher levels could prolong the infrastructure building cycle and lessen fears of order cancellation," CIMB analyst Kenneth Ng said in a client note. Singapore's Neptune Orient Lines rose 3.2 percent to a three-month high after its first-quarter earnings almost tripled. But the world's eighth-largest container shipping firm warned of difficult times ahead due to rising fuel costs. [ID:nSIN336309] Malaysia's largest-listed planter Sime Darby gained 2.6 percent while IOI Corp closed 1.4 percent up after the country's number two palm oil firm reported a 53 percent rise in third-quarter profit, propelled by firm demand and strong prices. [ID:nKLR158694] Thailand's biggest convenience store chain CP All rose 9.5 percent to a three-month high after beating market forecasts with an 86 percent rise in quarterly profit on strong sales and store openings. [ID:nBKK182698] High oil prices also pushed Thai energy firm PTT PCL up 1.7 percent and top refiner Thai Oil rose 1.5 percent. Indonesia's largest coal miner PT Bumi Resources Tbk ended 2 percent higher after it won a 120 percent price hike on thermal coal deliveries to some Japanese uilities this year, two sources familiar with negotiations said.[ID:nSYD179564] Lenders PT Bank Central and Bank Rakyat Indonesia also both rose 1.6 percent. (Editing by Neil Chatterjee) |
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