Southeast Asian stock markets mostly fell on Thursday, with Indonesia ending a rally that took it close to a record high and Singapore retreating from a 10-week peak as investors turned wary over the US economy. Investors cashed in on recent gainers across the region, with Malaysia pulling back from a two-month high, the Philippines, which earlier scaled a 2-1/2-year peak, ending slightly lower and Vietnam falling 0.4 percent.
Indonesia's benchmark index hit an intra-day peak of 2,987.04, close to the record of 2,996.41 set on May 4, 2010. Bucking the trend, Thailand inched up 0.2 percent on late buying. In its Asia Equity Strategy, Credit Suisse said it was staying overweight on Indonesia, seeing palm oil and coal as the most undervalued sectors, while Thailand and the Philippines were on its list of cheapest markets.
The ING Investor Dashboard survey showed that Southeast Asian emerging markets were looking increasingly attractive to wealthy Asian investors as they grew less optimistic about prospects in Greater China. In Bangkok, Thai analysts raised their end-2010 target for Thai stocks to 849 as growth in the domestic and global economy plus the government's stimulus spending should bolster earnings. The index closed at 821.02 on Thursday. The Thai stock exchange's president, Charamporn Jotikasthira, said a market roadshow in London this week got positive feedback from investors.
Among losers in Jakarta, where the index trades at a 12-month forward price to earnings ratio of 13.8, the highest in Southeast Asia, coal miner Bumi Resources fell 3.7 percent and Adaro Energy dropped 1.2 percent. In Singapore, property shares were mixed, with CapitaLand up 0.3 percent, City Development up 2.7 percent.