SE Asia Stocks-Singapore falls for 2nd day; energy shares lift Thai index
BANGKOK, April 17 (Reuters) - Most Southeast Asian stock
markets were range bound on Friday, with overbought Singapore
shares heading for a second straight day of fall, while buying
in laggard energy shares helped bring Thai benchmark to the
highest in almost seven weeks.
Asian shares edged up in early trade, shrugging off a
languid performance on Wall Street after another set of
lacklustre U.S. economic data.
In Singapore, the key Straits Times Index was down
0.3 percent, further pulling away from a more than seven-year
high hit on April 15.
The index's 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI) was at
72.15, hovering in an overbought level of 70 or above for five
straight day.
Sentiment would be slightly cautious after Wall Street's
overnight pullback, Singapore-based NRA Capital said.
"There could be some tempted to take profit ahead of the
weekend though there seems to be more optimism that stock prices
are more unlikely to be crashing with a more progressive drop
instead if sentiment changes," the broker said in a report.
Profit taking hit most markets in Southeast Asia but hopes
that the interest rate hike in the United States could be
imposed later than June lent support, said brokers in the
region.
Bangkok's SET index was up 0.10 percent, climbing at
one point to 1,575.09, the highest since March 3. Shares of top
energy firm PTT gained almost 2 percent after a 6.3
percent jump on the previous day.
PTT traded at an earnings multiple of 11.15 times, well
below the SET's 16.74 times, according to Thomson Reuters Eikon.
Thai SET was on track for a weekly gain of 1.5 percent, its
third and trailing Vietnam's 3 percent. Singapore and
Malaysia were poised for a fifth straight weekly gain,
adding 1.4 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.
Indonesia looked set to end the week 1.3 percent
lower, with the Philippines down 2.3 percent, hammered by
selling in large caps which led the index to a record closing
high of 8,127.48 in the previous week.
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SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS
Change at 0409 GMT
Market Current Prev Close Pct Move
Singapore 3522.12 3531.61 -0.27
Kuala Lumpur 1848.09 1847.94 +0.01
Bangkok 1571.60 1570.00 +0.10
Jakarta 5421.02 5420.73 +0.01
Manila 7933.14 7948.20 -0.19
Ho Chi Minh 570.76 568.28 +0.44
(Reporting by Viparat Jantraprap; Editing by Anand Basu)
