OREANDA-NEWS. February 18, 2015. Indonesian shares posted modest gains on Tuesday before the central bank's interest rate decision while the Thai stock index hit a more-than-two-week closing low after late selling in energy shares and large caps.

Bank Indonesia stunned markets by cutting its benchmark interest rate for the first time since 2011, by 25 basis points to 7.50 percent, saying the level is consistent with efforts to drive inflation towards its target range.

Interest rate-sensitive stocks ended mixed before the interest rate announcement which came after market close. Bank Rakyat Indonesia eased 0.2 percent while Bank Central Asia rose 0.5 percent.

Jakarta's composite index ended up 0.2 percent, recovering from the fall on Monday.

Bangkok's SET index fell 1.3 percent to 1,587.75, the lowest close since Feb. 2. Shares of index heavyweight PTT and PTT Global Chemical dropped more than 2 percent each.

The Thai bourse said foreign investors were net sellers of shares worth 2.2 billion baht (\\$67.59 million), a third straight session.

After a range-bound session, stocks in Singapore finished down 0.3 percent and Malaysia ended a tad higher. Singapore and Malaysia will trade half-day on Wednesday, then close through Friday for the Lunar New Year holidays.

Indonesia and the Philippines will be shut on Thursday while Vietnam is closed through Feb 23.