Southeast Asian stock markets were weaker on Monday as market players cashed in recent gains in regional big caps on bearish Chinese trade data and awaited signals from a US Federal Reserve meeting on Tuesday. Big name energy shares pulled lower along with global oil prices which fell on Monday for the first time in four sessions amid profit taking.
Singapore's benchmark Straits Times Index ended down 0.03 percent in a volatile session while Thailand's main SET index flip-flopped between gains and losses before closing off 0.74 percent. Malaysia's main index fell 0.9 percent to the lowest since February 29. Jakarta's Composite index and the Philippine index each drifted down 0.11 percent.
Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange's VN Index lost 0.95 percent amid concerns over rising inflationary pressure after a fuel price hike continued dominating the market. Share markets took a breather after a recent run boosted by foreign inflows and by optimism about earnings outlooks of Southeast Asian firms.
Trading volumes were generally light on Monday as investors awaited a new catalyst to push share prices up. Hong Kong-based Mun Hon Tham, regional strategist of Maybank Kim Eng Securities, said he expected the region to be rangebound in the near term. "You need the earnings outlook to be upgraded and currently there's just really no catalyst for that to happen," he said.
"The overall outlook is still a global economy that's going very slowly, with a mild recession in Europe. So you can't argue for a midcycle valuation. Current level seems appropriate, so further upside has to come from earnings." Asian shares edged lower on Monday as strong US jobs data tempered expectations of further monetary easing by the Federal Reserve. At 0929 GMT, the MSCI Asia Pacific ex-Japan index eased 0.67 percent.
Among weak spots, Telekom Malaysia Bhd dropped 2.5 percent, its biggest daily loss in more than two months, and Indonesia's biggest firm by market value Astra Internatiional Tbk lost 0.6 percent after a combined 1.5 percent gain the past two sessions. Thailand's top energy firm PTT Pcl dropped 1.4 percent. Manila-listed Alliance Global Group Inc hit its highest point since January 2011 during the day, but then fell to end down 2.3 percent. In Bangkok, the president of Thai stock exchange Charamporn Jotikasthira told reporters future foreign fund flows to Thai market appeared favourable. The bourse had a marketing roadshow in Japan last week.