Indonesian Stocks Lead Southeast Asia; Thailand SET Snaps Gains

15 Jul 2014

By Jake Maxwell Watts Indonesian stocks gained the most in Southeast Asia Tuesday--rising 1% by the close after consolidation in large-cap stocks. Elsewhere trading was quiet. Gainers in Jakarta were led by consumer-goods company PT Unilever Indonesia which rose 3.2% while PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia extended recent gains--ending just shy of its high achieved on Thursday following the announcement last week of a large bond issuance scheduled for 2015. The benchmark JSX index rose 1% to 5071 with the Philippines PSEi gaining a more modest 0.1%. Thailand's SET fell 0.3%--losing ground for the first time in 13 trading sessions on selling in banking stocks. Kasikornbank PCL lost 1.8%, Siam Commercial Bank PCL was down 1.1% and Bangkok Bank PCL traded 1.2% lower in the last hour before the market close. Singapore shares ended flat with non-index constituents moved by corporate news. Ezion Holdings Ltd. and Viking Offshore & Marine rose 1% and 1.6%, respectively, after securing business contracts. Also in Singapore, Noble Group Ltd. lost 0.4%. The stock failed to rally after an overnight announcement the company will team up with EIG Global Energy Partners to buy international energy assets. Singapore's FTSE Straits Times Index will gain ground by the end of the year--possibly as high as 3400 points if a trend of downward revisions to corporate earnings peters out and M&A picks up, DBS said Tuesday. However, it says the index may face "a stumbling block" from valuations--which remain high compared with earnings. The index is 3.9% higher year to date and closed at 3291. It lags all other Southeast Asian markets this year with the exception of Malaysia. It was a public holiday in Malaysia Tuesday. Foreign exchange markets were characterized by U.S. dollar strength. Indonesia's rupiah weakened 0.3% against the dollar while the Philippines peso lost 0.2%.