Southeast Asian stocks most settle higher as Saudi tensions ease

Reuters: Most Southeast Asian stock markets rose on Tuesday after reports said Saudi Arabia was preparing to acknowledge the death of a Saudi journalist in a botched interrogation, easing tensions between the oil-rich kingdom and the Western world.

Meanwhile, a rebound in Italian assets propped up battered equities, with MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rising 0.25%, pulling away from a 19-month trough touched on Thursday.

The Indonesian and Vietnamese indexes led gains in the region, settling 1.3% and 1.2% higher, respectively.

Document management services provider Multifiling Mitra Indonesia jumped 9.74% while financing company Trust Finance Indonesia rose as much as 12.82% during the day.

 Philippine shares, the worst performers in the region with a 19% year-to-date fall as of last close, rose 0.9% with gains across sectors. Lender BDO Unibank Inc closed 1.9% higher while beverage and food maker Universal Robina Corp rose nearly 4%.

Malaysian shares gained 0.5% while Thai shares session marginally higher after see-sawing in the session.

Singapore, the sole loser in the region, was down 0.3%.

Singapore markets have slipped about 10.83% this year as of Monday’s close.