The Philippine main index hit an all-time closing high on Tuesday led by market bluechips such as Ayala Land while Indonesia rose to a near two-week high as the central bank's upbeat economic view helped lift sentiment. The Philippines ended up 1.3 percent at 5,831.50, pushing it up 33.4 percent in the year, Southeast Asia's best. The market rally was in line with the Philippine economy's prospects, backed by strong consumer and government spending.

Jakarta's Composite Index was up 0.4 percent at 4,317.92, led by a 0.7 percent gain in PT Astra International Tbk, a proxy of Indonesia's consumer sector. Bank Indonesia held its benchmark rate steady at 5.75 percent on Tuesday, aiming to help keep Southeast Asia's largest economy growing at least 6 percent a year and showing it feels inflation remains at a comfortable level. Thai SET index rose 0.5 percent, with energy firm PTT Exploration and Production Pcl up 0.3 percent after its offering of 650 million shares was oversubscribed, raising $3 billion in the country's biggest equity sale ever.

Copyright Reuters, 2012