Asean stocks: Most indexes higher

BANGKOK: Southeast Asian stocks rose on Thursday as dovish comments by Federal Reserve Vice Chairwoman Janet Yellen lifted hopes of continuing loose monetary policy in the United States, spurring short covering across exchanges.

Stocks in Indonesia led regional rebound, with Jakarta's Composite Index up 1.6 per cent. It had fallen over the past four sessions, hitting the lowest close in two months on Wednesday.

Bargain-hunting emerged in banking stocks including Bank Mandiri and Bank Rakyat Indonesia beaten down this week as the central bank's unexpected interest rate hike weighed on interest rate sensitive stocks.

Singapore rose 0.9 per cent after falling for the last two sessions, while Malaysia was up 0.3 per cent, rebounding from four days of losses and Vietnam, which declined in the previous two days, gained 0.5 per cent as Asian share markets bounced.

Janet Yellen, President Barack Obama's nominee to lead the Federal Reserve, thinks the US central bank has "more work to do" to help an economy and a labour market that are still underperforming.

Thai stocks was up 1.1 per cent near mid-day, erasing a 0.6 per cent loss on Wednesday in a relatively thin volume that was around a third of a full day average over the past 30 sessions.

Investors remained wary of the political tensions, brokers said.

"Foreign outflows may slow at least in the near term, after good news on US monetary policies," strategists at broker KGI Securities wrote in a report.

"However, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines may continue to underperform, especially Thailand where the political situation is yet to be fully resolved," they said.

The Philippine index edged up 0.1 per cent, after a modest loss on Wednesday due to concerns over the impact of the super Typhoon Haiyan.

Among gainers, shares of Manila Water rose 1.2 per cent after third-quarter results and on a broker's rating upgrade.

Maybank ATR Kim Eng upgraded its rating on the stock to 'hold' from 'sell', citing a strong profit of Manila Water's east zone concession, the broker said in a report.

"Manila Water's core earnings before preferred dividends reached 1.38 billion peso, up six per cent year on year, on the back of higher profits from its east zone concession, which contributed over 95 per cent to its consolidated net profits," it said