SE Asia Stocks -Mostly range-bound ahead of China data; Singapore outperforms
Nov 13 (Reuters) - Most Southeast Asian stocks were
range-bound on Thursday as investors waited on the sidelines
ahead of Chinese economic data, but Singapore outperformed the
region led by financials.
Singapore's Straits Times Index was up 0.8 percent
by 0616 GMT led by a 1.5 percent gain each in United Overseas
Bank Ltd and DBS Group Holdings Ltd, which
had lost 4.72 percent and 0.9 percent respectively in the
previous session.
"With signs of increasing concern over the strength of the
European economic recovery, investors could be looking to sell
into strength while those who have been sidelined for a while
will be looking to accumulate only at lower levels,"
Singapore-based Net Research Asia said in an investor note.
Analysts said many investors were waiting for cues from
Chinese economic data, expected later in the day.
China's industrial output, investment and retail sales data
are expected to show a cooling in the world's second largest
economy, with fixed-asset investment, an important driver of
growth, seen growing at its slowest pace in nearly 13 years
between January and October.
Malaysia's stock index was up 0.1 percent, while
Vietnam was 0.03 percent weaker and Indonesia's Jakarta
Composite Index fell 0.3 percent by midday as
uncertainty over a fuel price hike weighed on sentiment.
Philippine shares were down 0.2 percent, while shares
in Thailand traded steady.
Teerada Charnyingyong, a strategist at broker Phillip
Securities, said there was no market-moving news to boost
sentiment for Thai stocks.
Charnyingyong said regulators were considering some curbs on
overheated stocks by framing some new rules by next Wednesday.
"May be there could be more monitoring and control of the
stocks with high P/E ratio," she said.
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SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS
Change at 0616 GMT
Market Current Prev Close Pct Move
Singapore 3308.21 3283.71 +0.75
Kuala Lumpur 1817.31 1816.24 +0.06
Bangkok 1562.06 1562.03 +0.00
Jakarta 5036.42 5048.84 -0.25
Manila 7216.36 7232.87 -0.23
Ho Chi Minh 603.81 604.01 -0.03
(Reporting by Shihar Aneez; Editing by Sunil Nair)