Southeast Asian markets: Indonesia posts best gain since September; Thailand up

Indonesian shares jumped 3.2 percent on Friday, their biggest one-day gain in almost six months, after main opposition PDI-P party named Jakarta's hugely popular governor, Joko Widodo, as its candidate for this year's presidential election. Joko Widodo's candidacy as president triggered late buying in banking and large cap shares due to positive economic prospects.
"The rally is driven by sentiment that Indonesia will have a good president that is willing to take difficult decision, have good and clean historical track record, pro-development for all," said Wilianto Le, Head of Research at Maybank Kim Eng. "... and most of all an expectation of smooth transition of power to opposition party which shows Indonesia is turning into a developed democracy," he wrote in a report.
Jakarta's Composite Index closed at 4,878.64, the highest since June 2013, ending the week up 4.1 percent, Southeast Asia's best performer. It slipped earlier amid weakness in the region due to concerns about the crisis in Ukraine and weaker-than-expected Chinese data. "The market is quite excited about the nomination of Jokowi. This could drive JCI to the 5,000 level in the near term," said Harry Su, head of research at broker Bahana Securities.
Shares of Bank Mandiri jumped 9.1 percent while Bank Rakyat Indonesia surged 10.5 percent. Thai stocks extended their gains for a third week, rising 1.3 percent, after the Bank of Thailand cut its benchmark interest rate and amid expectations about a possible removal of the emergency decree.