SE Asia Stocks-Most up; Philippine index posts 2015 loss
BANGKOK, Dec 29 (Reuters) - The Philippine index retreated
on Tuesday, ending 2015 with its first loss in seven years,
while most sharemarkets in Southeast Asia eked out gains in
light volume trade, with investors content to stay on the
sidelines before the New Year holiday.
The Philippine composite index was down 0.5 percent
on the day and 3.9 percent on the year. Shares of Universal
Robina Corp and Ayala Corp were the top two
gainers on foreign-led buying.
Foreign investors bought shares on the last trading day of
the year. The Philippine market is closed from Dec. 30 and will
reopen on Jan. 4. Trading volume in Manila dropped below the
30-day average, in line with the region.
The overall stock market saw 962 million pesos ($20.44
million) worth of net foreign buying, the Manila bourse said in
a statement. The exchange expects market indicators to improve
next year.
"We expect that the country's solid macro-economic
fundamentals will continue to drive stock market growth, aided
by election-related and infrastructure spending," said the stock
exchange's president Hans B. Sicat.
Key indexes in Malaysia and Indonesia hit
multi-week closing highs, lifted by foreign inflows of a net 157
million ringgit ($36.64 million) and 79 billion rupiah ($5.76
million), respectively, stock exchange data showed.
Stocks in Singapore rebounded from the fall on Monday
and Vietnam posted its best gain in three weeks while
Thai stocks erased early gains and ended slightly lower.
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SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS
Change on day
Market Current Prev Close Pct Move
Singapore 2888.22 2875.32 +0.45
Kuala Lumpur 1685.36 1670.73 +0.88
Bangkok 1283.78 1285.87 -0.16
Jakarta 4569.36 4557.36 +0.26
Manila 6952.08 6983.61 -0.45
Ho Chi Minh 576.29 569.90 +1.12
Change on year
Market Current End 2014 Pct Move
Singapore 2888.22 3365.15 -14.17
Kuala Lumpur 1685.36 1761.25 -4.31
Bangkok 1283.78 1497.67 -14.28
Jakarta 4569.36 5226.95 -12.58
Manila 6952.08 7230.57 -3.85
Ho Chi Minh 576.29 545.63 +5.62
($1 = 47.0750 Philippine pesos)
($1 = 4.2850 ringgit)
($1 = 13,740.0000 rupiah)
(Reporting by Viparat Jantraprap; Additional reporting by Erik
dela Cruz in Manila; Editing by Sunil Nair)