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Tag: stock market

  • Philippines stock jumps ahead of inflation data, Singapore slides

    Philippines stock jumps ahead of inflation data, Singapore slides

    Most Southeast Asian shares climbed on Thursday, with Philippine markets leading gains ahead of the release of inflation figures, while Singaporean stocks bucked the trend to fall sharply. Philippine stocks gained 1.04 percent, as industrial shares SM Investments Corp and JG Summit Holdings Inc propelled the index. A report shows that the country’s inflation is expected to cool to a six-month low in December, making it likely the Philippine central bank will leave policy rates unchanged this year.

    “The investors were mainly concerned about inflation during 2018,” said Rachelle Cruz an analyst at AP Securities in Manila.

    “So now we’re seeing some buying in the index stocks as there’s better expectation on earnings growth now, since that concern seems to be fading,” Cruz said.

    Local investors appeared to be buying more because some Philippine companies have reached “very attractive valuations,” she added.

    A surge in consumer goods stocks powered a 0.4 percent advance in Indonesian shares.

    Shares in Malaysia and Thailand also rose, by 0.56 percent and 0.71 percent respectively.

    In Kuala Lumpur tourist resort chain Genting Malaysia Berhad added 2.7 percent and palm oil producer Sime Darby Plantation Berhad rose 3.3 percent, while in Bangkok energy stocks provided the biggest boost to the benchmark.

    Meanwhile, Singaporean shares edged 0.81 percent lower, with Thai Beverage PCL dropping 3.3 percent and industrial conglomerate Jardine Strategic Holdings Ltd losing 1.4 percent.

    Vietnamese stocks also shed just above 0.8 percent, with most major sectors in the red. Real-estate stocks like Vinhomes JSC and Vingroup JSC, which powered a rally on Wednesday, fell around 2 percent apiece.

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  • Vietnam tops Southeast Asia in IPOs

    Vietnam tops Southeast Asia in IPOs

    Vietnam surpassed Singapore and Thailand to top Southeast Asia in initial public offerings (IPOs) last year, raising $2.6 billion. This figure was 3.7 times that of 2017, according to consultancy Ernst & Young. Two of three largest IPOs in Southeast Asia last year were launched by Vietnamese companies: $1.34 billion from Vinhomes, a real estate developer of Vietnam’s biggest private firm Vingroup; $923 million from Techcombank, the country’s largest private sector lender.

    However, an opposite trend was seen in Southeast Asia as a whole, with the money raised from IPOs dropping 34 percent over 2017 to $7.1 billion.

    The number of IPO deals in the region also decreased by 7 percent to 115, with 56 of them raising less than $10 million.

    Ernst & Young economist Max Loh said that the reason for this drop was U.S-China trade tensions, which affected the capital market in the region, as Southeast Asian countries have close trade relationships with China.

    Experts feel Vietnam has the potential to attract more foreign investments in the future. A report by law firm Baker McKenzie and consultancy Oxford Economics said that Vietnam will top the region in the amount of money raised via IPOs by 2021.

    The rise of Vietnam and other developing countries in Southeast Asia could intensify competition for new listings among the region’s exchanges, said Tham Tuck Seng, PwC Singapore’s capital markets leader.

    This will increase the pressure on Singapore to differentiate itself even more in order to stand out, CNBC quoted Tham as saying.

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  • Indonesian Stock Exchange ends 2018 in the red

    Indonesian Stock Exchange ends 2018 in the red

    Indonesia’s benchmark stock index declined 2.54 percent overall in 2018 amid a rough year for equities globally. Foreign investors sold a net Rp 50.75 trillion ($3.52 billion) in Indonesian stocks for the whole of 2018, compared with Rp 39.6 trillion in 2017. The market capitalization of Indonesia’s stock market meanwhile stood at Rp 7,023 trillion, compared with Rp 7,052 trillion a year earlier.

    The last trading day of 2018 on Friday last week saw the Jakarta Composite Index (JCI) closing 0.06 percent higher at 6,194.5.

    Inarno Djajadi, the new chief of the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX), said during Friday’s closing ceremony in South Jakarta, attended by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, that 57 companies listed their shares in 2018. This is a record high.

    Wimboh Santoso, chairman of the Financial Services Authority (OJK), expressed optimism during the event that the JCI would hit a level of between 6,500 and 7,000 next year.

    “We are still upbeat that the JCI has a chance to gain further. The OJK will provide stimulus to encourage more companies to list by offering various instruments,” he said.

    Wimboh said despite negative sentiment from external factors, such as the ongoing trade war between the United States and China, the business community remains optimistic about the Indonesian economy.

    Not Too Bad?

    President Jokowi also expressed optimism that the JCI may perform better next year. Citing IDX data, he said despite the 2.54 percent decline, the JCI was the second-best performer in Asia after India, which saw its benchmark stock index gain 6.17 percent this year overall.

    Jokowi said 2018 was not an easy year for the country’s economy, which was impacted by both external and internal factors.

    He said Indonesia’s large current-account deficit put pressure on the rupiah, which ultimately also affected the financial performance of listed companies. Meanwhile, normalization of US monetary policy, which caused capital outflows from emerging markets such as Indonesia, the US-China trade war and weak commodity prices also impacted Indonesian companies.

    “All of these have caused volatility in the JCI’s performance and dragged down the performance of listed companies,” he said.

    Jokowi said the government was fully committed to strengthening Indonesia’s stock market, as it should not only serve investors’ interests, but also function as a source of long-term funding for local companies to expand their business and help boost the country’s economy.

    According to Inarno, the number of registered investors on the IDX increased by roughly 222,000 to about 851,000, with 29 percent of them actively trading every day.

    The average daily trade for the whole year stood at Rp 8.5 trillion with an average frequency of 386,968. This is the biggest in Asia.

    Fundraising Down

    Fakhri Hilmi, deputy commissioner for capital market supervision at the OJK, said fundraising by Indonesian companies from capital markets in 2018 is estimated at Rp 163 trillion, which is 35.9 percent lower than last year.This figure includes initial public offerings, rights issuances and bond sales.

    “This year’s isn’t as much as last year; the value of IPOs were smaller,” he said.

    More Stocks Booking Losses

    More stocks booked losses in 2018 compared with last year. Of the 619 companies listed on the local bourse, 252 saw gains in their stock prices, while 327 booked losses. The remainder were stagnant.Of the shares that increased in value, 41 booked gains of more than 100 percent, while four increased by more than 1,000 percent.

    They are Super Energy, a company engaged in oil, gas and mining and petroleum transportation services, which saw its stock price rise by 1,450 percent this year, and financial services provider Pool Advista Finance, which saw its stock price jump 1,529 percent.

    The stock price of Prima Cakrawala Abadi, an exporter of fishing products, jumped 2,006 percent and Transcoal Pacific, a sea transportation and logistics service provider, saw its stock price skyrocket by a massive 3,714 percent.

    However, these are penny stocks. Indonesia’s shallow capital markets allow traders and brokers to trick the price of stocks that have low market values.

    Meanwhile, only 11 companies of Indonesia’s top 45 listed companies by market value, known as LQ45, booked gains in 2018.

  • Asian stocks slump after Fed raises interest rates

    Asian stocks slump after Fed raises interest rates

    Tokyo led a rout of Asian shares today, mirroring big losses on Wall Street after the Federal Reserve (Fed) defied unprecedented pressure from US President Donald Trump and raised interest rates, sparking fears the move could choke economic growth.

    The Nikkei plunged to a 15-month low as investors took fright over the pace of monetary tightening, with a slump triggered by the Dow’s fall to its lowest level of 2018 gathering pace.

    The Fed raised rates for the fourth time this year – as expected – but markets reacted badly after chairman Jerome Powell said the bank would not shift course on reducing its balance sheet.

    Investors had hoped for a less aggressive approach amid concern that global growth is slowing, while Powell played down the impact of recent market turmoil on the US economy.

    “They think the Fed has completely misjudged the situation and now it’s just a matter of … trying to find an exit while you can,“ said Kyle Rodda, a market analyst at IG Group in Melbourne.

    “We’re probably entering a stage now where markets have got it (in) their head that we’re preparing for quite sustained downside going into 2019.”

    The Fed now projects only two interest rate increases, down from three previously, as it trimmed its forecast for US growth and inflation.

    Stephen Innes, head of Asia-Pacific trade at OANDA, said the “Fed delivered a dovish hike, but clearly, there wasn’t enough affirmation in the statement that the Fed was close to pausing or ending their interest rate hike cycle sooner than expected”.

    But some analysts urged caution.

    “The market overreacted to the Fed, I think,“ said Shane Oliver, head of invest-ment strategy at AMP Capital Investors in Sydney.

    “It is moving in a dovish direction and is on track for a pause in the first half of next year. Markets are being driven by fear rather than fundamentals.”

    But the spillover from the rate hike continued to rattle investors in Asia today, deepening concern over global growth prospects which are already facing headwinds from Trump’s trade war with Beijing, a slowing Chinese economy, and potential turmoil from Britain quitting the European Union.

    Japanese stocks also declined after the Bank of Japan left ultralow rates unchanged, with the threat of trade protectionism and slowing global growth casting a pall over the export-driven economy. A strong yen also put downward pressure on stocks with the dollar falling below ¥112.

    Nissan dropped more than 2% after a Japanese court rejected prosecutors’ request to extend the detention of former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn after his arrest for financial misconduct.

    Shanghai fell more than 0.5%, even after the People’s Bank of China said it would supply lower-cost liquidity for up to three years to banks willing to lend more to small companies, as policy makers aim to shore up the flagging economy.

    Sydney closed more than 1% lower while Hong Kong and Seoul were down 0.9% each.

    The equities slump spread to Europe. Around 1100 GMT, London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index was down 0.5% with losses capped by stronger-than-expected UK retail sales data and as traders looked ahead to the outcome of the Bank of England’s regular monetary policy meeting later today.

    In the eurozone, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 shed 1.0% and the Paris CAC 40 slumped 1.5%.

  • HSBC sells 49% of HSBC Amanah Takaful

    HSBC sells 49% of HSBC Amanah Takaful

    HSBC Holdings plc’s indirect wholly owned subsidiary HSBC Insurance (Asia Pacific) Holdings Ltd is selling a 49% stake in HSBC Amanah Takaful (Malaysia) Bhd to FWD Life Insurance Company (Bermuda) Ltd. The transaction has obtained approval from the Minister of Finance, via Bank Negara Malaysia, and is expected to be completed during the first half of 2019.

    “We have decided to exit the takaful manufacturing business and focus on our banking operations in Malaysia. This transaction relates only to a change in ownership for the takaful joint venture. For the HSBC Group, the transaction does not have any impact on our current businesses in Malaysia, comprising HSBC Bank Malaysia Bhd and HSBC Amanah Malaysia Bhd. Malaysia remains a key insurance distribution market for us and we will continue to support the insurance needs of our customers through our insurance partners,” said HSBC Bank Malaysia Bhd CEO Stuart Milne.

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  • Vietnam Airlines eyes stock market listing in 2019

    Vietnam Airlines eyes stock market listing in 2019

    Vietnam Airlines plans to list its shares on the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange next year amidst rising competition of low-cost carriers. “Vietnam Airlines will go public in the first quarter of next year,” its chief executive, Duong Tri Thanh said. “We are making our target the first quarter of next year, and I think it is feasible.”

    But he admitted the final decision rests with the government.

    The carrier’s shares are traded on Hanoi’s Unlisted Public Company Market (UPCoM) and it has a market capitalization of more than $2 billion.

    The government currently owns around 86 percent of Vietnam Airlines, but has said it wants to reduce this to 51 percent by 2020.

    The country’s largest airline by passengers carried now faces rising competition from budget carrier VietJet Aviation and others. Last month Vietjet became the second most valuable airline in Southeast Asia by market cap behind only Singapore Airlines.

    With the domestic market showing signs of saturation, Vietnam Airlines seeks to expand overseas. In October it started a daily service from central Da Nang City to Osaka City to add to the 70 weekly flights from Vietnam to Japan. In 2020 it plans to begin a direct service to the U.S.

    Vietjet launched a daily service from Hanoi to Osaka last month to take its total number of international routes to 64 in 11 countries. It plans to add two more routes to Japan by next month.

    Other airlines are also jostling for market share. Bamboo Airways, Vietnam’s newest airline, received a license last month and is set to make its maiden flight on December 29.

    Experts said the listing of Vietnam Airlines would allow it to compete with other carriers by attracting more investors.

    “This would be a major Vietnamese company joining the stock exchange, which would interest international investors and potentially enable Vietnam Airlines to raise funds more easily to compete with the likes of VietJet and Bamboo,” the Financial Times quoted Tony Foster, a partner at Hanoi law firm Freshfields, as saying.

    Vietnam’s international aviation market, driven by the rapid growth in tourism, has been expanding at more than 30 percent a year, according to the CAPA Centre for Aviation, an Australian consultancy.

    Vietnam welcomed 14.1 million international tourists from January to November, up 21.3 percent year-on-year, according to the General Statistics Office. As many as 11.4 million of them came by plane, up 15.3 percent, it added.

    Vietnamese carriers transported 45.1 million passengers between January and November, up 11.9 percent year-on-year, and 369.2 million tons of goods, up 18.6 percent, according to the General Statistics Office.

    There are five carriers in Vietnam: Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet Air, Bamboo Airways, Jetstar Pacific and VASCO. Vietnam Airlines owns VASCO and has a 70 percent stake in Jetstar Pacific.

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  • Troubled Mr. Pizza heads for Kosdaq delisting

    Troubled Mr. Pizza heads for Kosdaq delisting

    Troubled pizza company MP Group may soon be delisted from the Kosdaq after nine years on the exchange. Korea Exchange announced Monday that a committee on corporate evaluation agreed to delist the company, which operates pizza franchise Mr. Pizza, from the secondary board. Another committee, which is specifically responsible for Kosdaq listings, will reach a final decision by Dec. 24 on whether to delist MP Group or grant it time to its improve performance.

    Chances are high that the MP Group will face delisting by the end of this month. The company had already been given 12 months last October to address issues of concern, but was unable to turn its finances around.

    MP Group recorded 11.14 billion won ($10.07 million) in net losses last year, according to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). The situation only improved somewhat this year, with the company reporting 1.04 billion won of net losses in the first three quarters of 2018.

    At the height of its popularity, Mr. Pizza was Korea’s largest pizza chain, with around 433 franchisees in 2014. Though the Mr. Pizza brand started off in Japan, it was in Korea where it became a huge success, riding a wave in the domestic pizza market.

    Jung Woo-hyun, a former chairman, introduced the first Mr. Pizza store in Korea in 1990 and eventually bought the Japanese parent in 1996. By August 2009, MP Group was listed on the Kosdaq.

    The pizza company’s affairs took a dramatic turn for the worse in 2016 when Jung made headlines for a series of alleged offenses, ranging from the physical assault of a security guard to fair-trade violations.

    As accusations continued to surface of Jung and the MP Group’s gapjil, or abuse of power, consumers turned their backs on the franchise. The reaction took a toll on MP Group’s profits, and the number of Mr. Pizza stores quickly dropped.

    The biggest blow came last July when Jung was arrested for embezzlement and breach of trust.

  • Amazon briefly edges out Apple to top Nasdaq

    Amazon briefly edges out Apple to top Nasdaq

    Amazon briefly became the most valuable company on Wall Street in intraday trade on Monday, days after Microsoft dethroned long-time leader Apple. Amazon rose by 4.7 percent at one point, putting its market capitalization at $865.0 billion. At the same time, Apple traded up 2.1 percent, giving it a market capitalization of $864.8 billion.

    Microsoft, which on Friday closed above Apple’s market capitalization for the first time in eight years, was up 0.9 percent, leaving its stock market value at $859.0 billion, third in the group.

    Amazon’s lead lasted only a few seconds. At the close, Apple was back on top with a 3.49 percent increase in its stock that put its total value at $877 billion. It was followed by Amazon, up 4.86 percent with a market capitalization of $866.6 billion, and then Microsoft, up 1.08 percent and a stock market value of $860.4 billion.

    The tight race between the trio of high-powered technology stocks coincided with a broad stock market rally after the United States and China agreed on a temporary truce in their ongoing trade dispute.

    Apple in August became the first U.S. publicly listed company to reach a $1 trillion market capitalization, but its share price has fallen sharply in recent months as investors worried that demand for iPhones was losing steam.

    Its market capitalization overtook Microsoft’s in 2010 as Microsoft struggled with slow demand for personal computers, due in part to the explosion of smartphones like the iPhone.

    Amazon’s stock has recovered most of the ground it lost after the online retailer in October forecast disappointing sales for the holiday quarter.

  • Hyundai AutoEver plans IPO

    Hyundai AutoEver plans IPO

    Hyundai AutoEver, an ICT affiliate of Hyundai Motor Group, plans to go public on the Korean stock market, a move seen as a preliminary step to the group’s restructuring. The company said it submitted an application for preliminary screening to the Korea Exchange on Thursday. NH Investment and Securities will oversee the deal. “In time for the paradigm shift such as the fourth industrial revolution, [the initial public offering (IPO)] is to enhance the company’s competitiveness in digital technology as well as the company’s awareness, in addition to further secure investment for research and development,” the company said.

    Hyundai AutoEver was established in 2000 as a B2B company that develops a range of auto software systems related to connected and cloud services. It posted 1.1 trillion won ($971.4 million) in revenue last year with 52.1 billion won in net profit.

    In addition to fortifying the company’s competitiveness, the IPO is expected to relieve more than one risk at Hyundai Motor Group once it restarts its governance restructuring scheme. The company’s internal trade with other Hyundai affiliates accounted for more than 80 percent of its revenue last year.

    Kim Sang-jo, head of the Fair Trade Commission, has been pushing chaebol to eliminate trade among affiliates.

    Domestic fair trade law regulates family members of chaebol from owning more than 20 percent of the group affiliate’s shares. Hyundai Motor Group Executive Vice Chairman Chung Eui-sun slightly missed the spot by owning a 19 percent stake in Hyundai AutoEver, yet the latest push for an IPO is seen as a move to eliminate any possible risk of controversy.

    The public listing of the company is also expected to help Chung secure more funds required for the future governance restructuring as it will encompass numerous spinoffs and mergers.

    Hyundai Motor Group initially released a restructuring scheme back in March that never got off the ground due to a negative response from the market.

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  • Bursa slips on Wall Street, oil price slump

    Bursa slips on Wall Street, oil price slump

    Bursa Malaysia was not spared the fallout from this week’s rout on Wall Street and the slump in crude oil prices, with the FBM KLCI sliding 15.34 points to close at 1,695.37 points today. Most sectoral indices on the local bourse ended in the red today, save those for construction, healthcare, utilities and the ACE Market, and the FBM Fledgling Index.

    The selloff on Wall Street has been led by technology stocks, and the New York stock market’s gains for 2018 have been wiped out with the latest plunge on Tuesday.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 ended at their weakest since late October on Tuesday, diving 553 points or 2.2 % and 49 points or 1.8 % respectively. The technology-heavy Nasdaq declined 117 points or 1.7 %, the lowest it has hit in seven months.

    Energy stocks also took a beating after crude oil prices slumped 6.6%.

    Rakuten Trade Sdn Bhd head of research Kenny Yee said that the performance of the local bourse is attributable to developments on Wall Street and the decline in crude oil prices – which will be used as the “relevant excuse” by investors to take profits given the recent climb in stock prices.

    Asked if the selling will persist, he said this will depend on Wall Street’s performance.

    Yee projects the FBM KLCI to trade around the 1,680 level, which he said is a well-supported position.

    He noted that selling could also be induced by the expected dip in third quarter corporate earnings, in which further downgrades on corporate earnings growth are expected.

    “We were deep into the tech bubble and now it is bursting. The bubble is not totally without fundamentals but prices rose too much over a long period of time. For the US, it is only starting and for Malaysia the oil price drop marked our peak. We were just trying to recover before the bursting of this bubble hit us,” explained Inter-Pacific Securities Sdn Bhd head of research Pong Teng Siew.

    “There is no cover currently. All asset classes are being hit. Bonds, stocks, commodities, properties, cryptocurrencies … all are being hit. Even gold is going nowhere,” he said.

    Asked if this will continue, Pong noted that the market does look like continuing its bearish streak in all asset classes as the tide of liquidity is flowing out at the moment.

    Sapura Energy was the most active counter on Bursa Malaysia yesterday, surging 4.17% to 37.5 sen with 87.49 million shares traded.

    Malaysian Pacific Industries was the top loser, falling 4.08% to RM11.74 on volume of 480,600 shares.

  • Most SE Asia stocks fall in line with broader Asia; Indonesia climbs 1 pct

    Most SE Asia stocks fall in line with broader Asia; Indonesia climbs 1 pct

    Most Southeast Asian stock markets fell on Tuesday, tracking broader Asia after a selloff on Wall Street overnight. As reported, citing sources from both sides, that China’s top trade negotiator Liu He may visit Washington to prepare for the talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Argentina later this month.

    Philippine shares declined 1.2 percent, extending falls into a third session, dragged by industrial and real estate stocks. SM Prime Holdings declined 2.3 percent, while JG Summit Holdings fell 6.9 percent.

    Singapore shares declined for a third consecutive session, dragged by financials. DBS Group Holdings, the city-state’s largest lender, slipped 0.9 percent, while rival United Overseas Bank Ltd fell 1.2 percent.

    Malaysian shares extended falls into a third session, with IOI Corp Bhd shedding 3.1 percent to a near 11-month closing low and IHH Healthcare Bhd declining 2.8 percent to its lowest close since July 2014.

    Trade tensions between the United States and China will create a “domino effect” and prompt other countries to turn protectionist, said Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

    Vietnam shares declined 1.4 percent, dragged by financial and real estate stocks. Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) fell 3.7 percent, while real estate investor Vingroup JSC ended 2.7 percent lower.

    Indonesian shares were the top gainers in Southeast Asia with a rise of 1 percent. Consumer staples and financials led the gains with United Tractors Tbk PT and Bank Central Asia Tbk PT rising 5.5 percent and 1.6 percent respectively.

    Thai shares climbed 0.3 percent, helped by consumer staples.

    Glass container manufacturer Berli Jucker PCL rose 1.4 percent, while convenience stores operator CP All PCL climbed 2.6 percent to a more than one-month closing high.

    “Stocks are rising on internal factors like government improving infrastructure and linking of our three airports,” said Teerada Charnyingyong, an analyst with Phillip Capital Thailand.”The government also announced measures to stimulate spending by promoting the tourism sector.”

  • SE Asia Stocks end firmer; Vietnam gains 2.9 percent

    SE Asia Stocks end firmer; Vietnam gains 2.9 percent

    Southeast Asian stock markets ended higher on Wednesday tracking a firm finish on Wall Street, though they posted heavy losses in October.

    Financial markets across the globe faced a raft of negative factors, including Sino-U.S. trade tensions, to worries about global economic growth, higher U.S. interest rates and company earnings in the past few weeks.

    In Southeast Asia, Singaporean shares ended 1.8 percent firmer, but lost 7.3 percent this month.

    Conglomerate Jardine Matheson Holdings Ltd closed up 0.9 percent, while lender DBS Group Holdings Ltd added 2.9 percent to the bourse.

    Vietnam shares snapped nine sessions of declines to close 2.9 percent higher.

    Banking sector stocks accounted for most gains, with Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) closing 6.9 percent higher. BIDV, Vietnam’s second-biggest bank by market value, said it intends to sell 15 percent shares to South Korea’s KEB Hana Bank.

    Meanwhile, gains in the real estate sector were led by Vinhomes JSC after the property developer posted a 177 percent surge in third-quarter net profit.

    Malaysian shares closed 1.4 percent firmer as sentiment was balanced on hopes that cost-saving measures will be included in the country’s 2019 budget due later in the week.

    The country’s newly elected government, led by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, is likely to announce broad spending cuts in the budget speech scheduled on Nov 2.

    The Philippines market rebounded from previous session’s declines, underpinned by broad gains in the industrial and real estate stocks.

    Thai shares ended firmer on the back of energy stocks, which gained on higher oil prices. However, the index posted a 5.2 percent drop for the month.

    The biggest gainer on the index, petroleum and gas company PTT Pcl, closed at its highest in more than a week.

    The bourse was further cushioned by data from the Bank of Thailand, which stated September trade surplus of Thailand was at $1.96 billion, after a $0.60 billion surplus in August.

  • SE Asia Stocks not looking good, Singapore hits 22-month low

    SE Asia Stocks not looking good, Singapore hits 22-month low

    Philippines shares regained on Friday after reduction in previous section, while regional markets fell in line with broader Asia. The previous session saw sharp losses in the Philippines and other regional markets, as a tech-fuelled rout on Wall Street spooked investors across Asia, leading to a massive sell-off in regional equities.

    Asian bourses are likely to benefit from “tentative bottom-fishing”, analysts at OCBC said in a note.

    The Philippine index, which has been the region’s worst performer this year and the biggest loser in the previous session, rose 0.7 percent, boosted by real-estate stocks.

     “This is a short-lived bounce, since it was the worst performer and had seen a steep drop yesterday, I think investors think the 6,900 level of the index is a good time to buy… the last time it hit that level, investors bought back,” said Miguel Ong, research analyst at AP Securities.

    Real estate conglomerate Ayala Land Inc gained 2.1 percent and SM Investments Corp added 1.5 percent.

    Indonesian shares also ticked up, helped by telecom and financial stocks. Sector heavyweight PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk rose 0.8 percent and PT Bank Central Asia Tbk rose 0.9 percent.

    Vietnamese stocks were on track for a seventh losing session and a fourth straight week of losses, with real estate stocks and industrials being the biggest drags on the benchmark.

    Vinhomes Joint Stock Company fell 3.7 percent and No Va Land Investment Group Corporation lost 3.1 percent.

    Singapore stocks approached their lowest in nearly 22 months, falling 1.7 percent and on track for a fourth week in the red. Financial heavyweights like United Overseas Bank Ltd lost 3.5 percent and DBS Bank’s parent company DBS Group Holdings Ltd lost 2.6 percent.

    Thai shares failed to sustain the previous session’s brief bounce and looked set to post a fourth week of losses. Its energy sector, which drove a turnaround in the index in the previous session, was the biggest drag.

    Oil and gas giant PTT PCL lost 2 percent, while PTT Exploration and Production PCL traded 2.2 percent lower.

    Malaysian stocks edged lower on the back of telecom stocks, with Telekom Malaysia Berhad shedding 1.3 percent and wireless service provider Digi.Com Berhad losing 1.7 percent.

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  • SE Asia Stocks: Most lose ground, Vietnam dives to three-month low

    SE Asia Stocks: Most lose ground, Vietnam dives to three-month low

    Most Southeast Asian stock markets slumped on Thursday, following a tech rout on Wall Street that saw the year’s gains being wiped out. Disappointing forecasts from chipmakers beat down the tech sector, sending investors scurrying to the safety of sovereign bonds, pushing Wall Street to its worst single-day fall since 2011.

    A concoction of other negative factors like Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic tensions, fears of slowing global growth and the Brexit stalemate spooked investors, with MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropping about 2 percent.

    Vietnamese stocks dived as much as 4 percent to an over three-month low and were on track for a sixth straight day in the red.

    Financial and real-estate stocks bore the brunt of the beating, with lender Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (Vietcombank) losing 2.7 percent and conglomerate Vingroup JSC shedding 2.3 percent.

    Philippine shares fell 2.3 percent, dragged by banking and industrial stocks, pushing the index’s loss this week to 2.6 percent.

    “About 45 minutes into trading, net foreign selling has already reached over 100 million pesos. After last night’s bloody session on Wall Street, as expected foreigners are stepping up selling of Philippine shares, while local investors are staying on the sidelines,” said Fio Dejesus, a research analyst at RCBC Securities.

    Banking giant BDO Unibank Inc shed 3.6 percent and industrial conglomerate SM Investments Corp fell 2.7 percent.

    “It’s a flight to safety, they’re entering into lower risk assets like govt treasuries because the risk-off sentiment has hit emerging markets really hard,” he added.

    Singapore stocks saw the same dismal sentiment, giving up the previous day’s short-lived gains to take weekly losses to over 2 percent.

    Casino and gaming operator Genting Singapore Ltd fell 3.3 percent and investor Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (Holdings) Ltd lost 1.7 percent.

    Malaysian shares followed the same trajectory, shedding 0.8 percent, on track to post their sixth straight session of losses.

    Plantation and industrial heavyweight Sime Darby Berhad lost 5.9 percent and oil and gas services provider Dialog Group Berhad fell 3.9 percent.

    After the previous session’s sharp losses on energy stocks, the Thai index extended losses and were poised for a six-day run of losses.

    All sectors traded in the red, with oil and gas refiner PTT PCL losing 1 percent and lender Siam Commercial Bank PCL lost 2.2 percent.

    Indonesian shares appeared to escape the worst, trading slightly higher as gains in financial stocks offset losses in other sectors.

    Lender PT Bank Central Asia Tbk gained 0.8 percent while sector heavyweight and auto truck manufacturer PT Astra International Tbk lost 0.3 percent.

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  • Soft Start Predicted For Thai Stock Market

    Soft Start Predicted For Thai Stock Market

    The Thai stock market has moved lower in back-to-back trading days, sliding almost 10 points or 0.6 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand remains just beneath the 1,750-point plateau and it’s tipped to open in the red again on Wednesday.

    The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, with little movement expected ahead of the FOMC interest rate decision later today. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mostly lower – and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

    The SET finished slightly lower on Tuesday following mixed performances from the financial shares and the energy producers.

    For the day, the index dipped 1.43 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 1,747.99 after trading between 1,745.73 and 1,756.85. Volume was 12.141 billion shares worth 42.321 billion baht. There were 906 decliners and 441 gainers, with 531 stocks finishing unchanged.

    Among the actives, Advanced Info shed 0.25 percent, while Thailand Airport added 0.76 percent, Beauty Community lost 0.85 percent, Bangkok Expressway skidded 1.71 percent, Krung Thai Bank collected 0.50 percent, PTT Exploration and Production fell 0.65 percent, PTT Global Chemical jumped 1.57 percent, Siam Commercial Bank picked up 0.34 percent, Siam Concrete advanced 0.44 percent and PTT, Kasikornbank, Charoen Pokphand Foods, Banpu, Bangkok Bank and Bangkok Medical all were unchanged.

    The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as stocks opened slightly higher on Tuesday before fading in afternoon trade – although the tech-heavy NASDAQ remained in the green.

    The Dow shed 69.84 points or 0.26 percent to finish at 26,492.21, while the NASDAQ added 14.22 points or 0.18 percent to 8,007.47 and the S&) fell 3.81 points or 0.13 percent to 2,915.56.

    The uncertainty on Wall Street comes as traders look ahead to the Fed’s monetary policy announcement. The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates by a 25 basis points, although traders will pay attention to the accompanying statement for clues about the outlook for rates.

    Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s subsequent press conference is also likely to attract attention, with the central bank expected to raise rates by at least once more this year.

    In economic news, the Conference Board noted an unexpected improvement in consumer confidence in September as its index hit an 18-year high.

    Crude oil prices climbed on Tuesday after OPEC declined to increase production after upcoming U.S. sanctions against Iran take hold. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures for November delivery gained $0.20 or 0.3 percent to $72.28.

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