Southeast Asian stock markets largely closed lower on Thursday ahead of a policy meeting by the Bank of England later in the day where it is expected to cut rates to ward off the risk of a recession following Britain's vote to leave the European Union. Most economists polled by Reuters expect the BoE will cut rates to a record low of 0.25 percent, followed by a reactivation - probably in August - of the QE bond-buying programme it adopted as the financial crisis raged in early 2009.
Investors are taking a wait-and-see stance ahead of stimulus measures that various central banks are expected to roll out soon, said Grace Aller, an analyst with Manila-based AP Securities. While the European Central Bank is expected to keep policy on hold at its meeting next week, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has called for a fiscal stimulus, expected to reach about 2 percent of GDP, following his recent election victory.
Indonesia led the losers, dropping nearly 1 percent, hurt by telecom and consumer cyclicals. Matahari Department Store and Telekomunikasi Indonesia fell 2.1 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively. "It's just healthy profit-taking; there's no fundamental reason," said Elvira Tjandrawinata, an analyst with Nomura Indonesia.
"The market needs a breather. Valuations are no longer cheap, which is probably on expectations that the tax amnesty will bring in prosperity to the economy..." Indonesia has launched a tax amnesty programme that the government, facing a sizable budget shortfall, is counting on to bring home billions of dollars citizens have parked overseas.
Vietnam shares fell 1.3 percent, dragged down by financials and consumer non-cyclicals. Singapore closed marginally lower, before securities trading was disrupted. The Singapore Exchange Ltd said securities trading was suspended just before midday local time due to duplicate trade confirmation messages being generated. Thailand and Phillipine shares however bucked the trend to rise 0.75 percent and 0.15 percent, respectively.