Southeast Asian stock markets traded range-bound on Monday, with Indonesian and Philippine shares marking their highest close, as many countries in the region returned from Lunar New Year holidays while investors shrugged off a Greek deal to avert an immediate fiscal crisis.
The Philippine stock index hit a record high of 7,854.80 and ended at an all-time high of 7,826.07, with a $14.11 million net foreign buying. "We are technically due for a profit-taking," said Astro del Castillo, MD at Manila-based First Grade Finance Inc. "In terms of valuation, the Philippine market is already expensive. Also, the earnings season is ending so there is less incentive to buy into the market," he said, adding that consolidation might pull down the broader index to the 7,700 level this week. The Jakarta Composite Index gained 0.1 percent and closed at an all-time high of 5,403.28, with a $55.19 million net foreign inflow.
Euro zone ministers late on Friday agreed to extend Greece's financial rescue package by four months, a shorter extension than the six months the country had sought. Although an initial relief over the last-minute deal boosted Wall Street shares to record highs late on Friday, Asian markets as a whole saw little follow-up buying.
Song Sen Wun, a regional economist at CIMB, said there were still concerns if Greece would agree to all the terms of the euro zone and thus, the deal did not buoy markets. The Thai SET index ended 0.6 percent down as some investors had been waiting for clarity on the US monetary policy this week with the Fed chair set to testify before the US Senate banking committee on the economy and interest rate outlook, Strategists at broker KGI Securities said in a market report. Malaysian stocks ended 0.1 percent up despite a $11.6 million foreign outflow.
Comments
Comments are closed.