Southeast Asian stock markets faltered on Thursday amid sell-offs across Asia as a surge in Italy's borrowing costs fuelled anxiety about the future of the euro, with weak earnings from commodities firms helping drag Singapore down to a one-week low.
Indonesia made a larger-than-expected rate cut on Thursday to support economic growth but its stock market still fell nearly 2 percent. The selling, in light volume, sent most markets in the region to their lowest in around a week. Singapore's Straits Times Index was the biggest loser, falling as much as 3.4 percent at one stage and ending down 2.5 percent.
Stocks in Malaysia fell 1.1 percent, with retail investors dominating the market, a Kuala Lumpur-based trader said. The Philippines dipped 1.4 percent and Vietnam eased 1 percent. Thailand ended flat. Indonesia posted $124 million in foreign outflows and Malaysia reported 2.4 million ringgit ($770,095) in outflows but the Philippines had $3.9 million in inflows, Thomson Reuters and stock exchange data showed.
Shares in Singapore-listed Noble Group slumped 26 percent after the commodities firm posted its first quarterly loss in more than a decade, hurt by turbulence in commodity prices. Singapore commodities firm Olam International fell as much as 7.6 percent as traders saw the earnings from Noble Group as a sign of the poor outlook for the sector. Big caps and financials led losers in Jakarta but brokers said Bank Indonesia's (BI) surprise 50 basis point cut to its benchmark overnight rate to a record low 6 percent should help support stocks eventually. PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia Tbk, the world's biggest micro lender, fell 2.1 percent and PT Astra International Tbk, a vehicle distributor and the top listed firm, slid 2.3 percent.
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