(Feb 16): Philippine shares on Thursday recouped previous session's losses to end higher as industrials and financials rallied, while Indonesia closed lower after the much-watched first round election for Jakarta governor produced no clear outcome.
Unofficial sample vote counts pointed to a second round between the incumbent Basuki Tjahaja Purnama and Anies Baswedan, a former education minister, after neither appeared to win a majority in Wednesday's election.
The General Elections Commission is expected to announce official results in around two weeks, and the earliest a second round will be held is April.
The Jakarta SE Composite index ended the session 0.1% lower, dragged down mainly by financial stocks.
PT Bank Mandiri Tbk fell 2% to close at its lowest level in nearly two weeks. The biggest Indonesian bank by assets reported a 32% drop in its 2016 net profit on Tuesday. Trading volumes were nearly thrice the 30-day average.
Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero) Tbk PT fell 1.6% in heavy trade.
Philippine shares closed 1.5% higher. The index had fallen significantly in the last two trading sessions.
"We are the outlier in the region, but again it's a technical rebound," said Victor Felix, equity analyst at AB Capital Securities.
"There is a lack of catalysts right now ... starting end of this month or beginning of next month we should see a downtrend coming up to the (US Federal Reserve) meeting."
Conglomerate SM Investments Corp gained 2.9%, while JG Summit Holdings Inc rose 3.8% to its highest close since Jan 30.
Singapore index extended gains to close 0.3% higher, boosted by financials and industrials.
Top lender DBS Group Holdings Ltd gained 1.7% despite posting its lowest quarterly profit in two years.
Thai Beverage PCL extended gains to rise 2.1% to its highest close in three months.
Vietnam stocks snapped four sessions of gains to close 0.3% lower, off from the nine-year high hit earlier in the session.
Banks, which led the previous session's rally, were the biggest drags on the index. Vietcombank fell 1% to its lowest close in more than three weeks.
SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS
Change on the day
Market | Current | Prev close | % move |
Singapore | 3096.69 | 3088.48 | 0.27 |
Bangkok | 1576.05 | 1573.37 | 0.17 |
Manila | 7283.25 | 7174.3 | 1.52 |
Jakarta | 5377.998 | 5380.67 | -0.05 |
Kuala Lumpur | 1707.59 | 1709.79 | -0.13 |
Ho Chi Minh | 709.35 | 711.57 | -0.31 |
Change this year
Market | Current | End 2016 | % move |
Singapore | 3096.69 | 2880.76 | 7.50 |
Bangkok | 1576.05 | 1542.94 | 2.15 |
Manila | 7283.25 | 6840.64 | 6.47 |
Jakarta | 5377.998 | 5296.711 | 1.53 |
Kuala Lumpur | 1707.59 | 1641.73 | 4.01 |
Ho Chi Minh | 709.35 | 664.87 | 6.69 |