Southeast Asian stock markets were mixed on Monday after signs of weakness in China's economy and falls in oil prices, with the benchmark Singapore stock index snapping a three-session rising streak while shares in Indonesia and the Philippines rose on inflows. Singapore's key Straits Times Index fell 1 percent, led by a 3.5 percent drop in oil and gas service firm Sembcorp Marine. Sentiment was hit by weak Chinese stocks after the official version of the PMI survey for manufacturing slipped to 49.4 in January from 49.7 the month before and short of forecasts of 49.6.
The index posted its third straight gain on Friday, in line with a rally in regional share markets, after a surprise move by the Bank of Japan to run a negative interest rate policy. The Thai key SET index eased 0.3 percent, with shares of telecoms firm True Corp sliding 7 percent after a rights offering plan. Vietnam's VN Index ended down 0.86 percent, giving up early gains.
Indonesia rose for a seventh session while the Philippines hit a more than three-week closing high. Indonesia witnessed a net foreign buying of 417 billion rupiah ($30.58 million), while the Philippines saw a net foreign buying of 397 million pesos ($8.33 million), stock exchange and Thomson Reuters data showed. Malaysia was closed on Monday for a public holiday.
Vietnam PetroVietnam Gas led falls with a drop of 4.34 percent after rising a combined 3.1 percent since January 22, while steel firm Hoa Phat Group lost 2.91 percent following the establishment of its new 2.5 trillion dong ($112.21 million) agricultural firm. As many as 107.3 million shares changed hands, compared with the five-day average of 122.1 million, Thomson Reuters data showed. Vietnam's markets will be closed from February 8 to 12 for the Lunar New Year holiday. Trading will resume on February 15.
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