Most Southeast Asian stock markets rose on Friday, as risk appetite continued to improve following a two-day selloff after Britain voted to exit the European Union last week. Investor sentiment was also boosted after Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said the central bank would probably need to pump more stimulus into Britain's economy over the summer following the shock triggered by the referendum result.
St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard said on Thursday he was sticking with his view that the US central bank needed to make a single increase to interest rates, adding the impact on the United States of Britain's vote to leave was "statistically in the neighbourhood of zero." Central banks in Southeast Asia are also in a wait-and-watch mode after the Brexit vote, with Indonesia's central bank saying earlier this week that it had room to loosen monetary policy again as inflation was within its range.
Malaysia's central bank said on Thursday that markets had been resilient after the Brexit referendum as key domestic markets continued to have ample liquidity, adding that it would monitor developments to address further volatility. A combination of greater policy easing and lower DM (developed markets) growth expectations is favourable for ASEAN countries, Nomura said in a note. In a post-Brexit environment with greater policy accommodation, ASEAN should continue to outperform, it added. Vietnam shares hit their highest since September 2014, before closing up 1.3 percent. They posted a gain of 3.1 percent for the week.
Philippine shares rose 0.4 percent, helped by consumer cyclicals and financials. SM Investments Corp gained 2.4 percent, while SM Prime Holdings Inc was up 1.3 percent. Malaysia closed 0.5 percent down, with consumer cyclicals leading the losses. Genting Bhd fell 2.3 percent. The Thai market was closed on Friday for the mid-year closing day.