Southeast Asian stock markets ended slightly firmer on Thursday in moderate volume as investors cautiously bought risky assets amid growing concerns over slowing economic growth in China and the United States. Stocks in Indonesia and the Philippines ended up 0.4 percent after seesaw sessions while shares in Malaysia edged up 0.1 percent.
The Singapore benchmark fell 0.7 percent, Vietnam closed 1.5 percent weaker, and Thailand ended flat. Data overnight highlighted the fact that while the US economy is slowly improving, it is not building up much momentum. New orders for US durable goods increased only modestly in February, missing analyst forecasts, and a gauge of future business investment also fell short of expectations, raising the prospect of sluggish first-quarter economic growth.
Resurfacing jitters about a hard economic landing for China, the world's second-largest economy, also sapped sentiment. "Weakness in the major economies will affect trading and investment and thus they could derail the growth momentum," said Jose Vistan, an equity analyst at Manila-based AB Capital Securities. MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was trading down 0.9 percent at 0949 GMT.
Despite volatility in the region, foreign investors have been buying shares, with Malaysia and Indonesia enjoying inflows of $74.1 million and $51.5 respectively on Thursday. That helped Malaysia to see $299.23 million inflow and Indonesia to receive $189 million so far for the week. Thailand received a foreign inflow of nearly 4.36 billion Thai baht ($141.7 million) and the Philippines saw $48.8 million in the first three days of the week.
In Jakarta, a series of better 2011 earnings reports helped the index recover from the early loss due to disappointing US data on new orders for durable goods, said Yasmin Soulisa, an equity analyst at Batavia Prosperindo Sekuritas. In Singapore, big caps drove down the market, with a loss of 1.4 percent in United Overseas Bank and a fall of 1.2 percent in casino operator Genting Singapore.