South East Asian markets: Indonesia at record high

Southeast Asian stock markets gained on Friday as optimism about US jobs data later in the day increased investor appetite, with inflows sending Indonesian stocks to record highs and Thai stocks faring best on the week in a post-election rally. Volume picked up in some markets as investors anticipated the US data would show signs the world's biggest economy was recovering from a soft patch. Turnover in Singapore surged to 1.6 times the 30-day average as shares rose for a second day.
Major markets posted limited gains on the week, partly due to a technical-led pullback following surges, including record highs by Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia. Investors bought Southeast Asian banks and blue chips on Friday and dealers said demand would continue next week ahead of the half-year reporting season kicking off this month.
Najeeb Jarhom, head of research of AmFraser Securities, said top Singapore banks including DBS Group Holdings were poised to lead the market up. The MSCI index of Southeast Asia climbed 1.23 percent by 0923 GMT, led by a 2.12 percent surge in MSCI Indonesia, compared with a 0.7 percent rise in the MSCI index of Asia outside Japan.
A report on Thursday showing US companies hired four times more workers in June than in May prompted several economists to raise forecasts for the government's non-farm payroll count and bolstered hopes the economy may have turned a corner. Banks led the active list in Southeast Asia. DBS rose 0.3 percent, Indonesia's largest lender, Bank Mandiri, surged 3.4 percent to a record high and Malaysia's biggest lender, Maybank, rose 0.2 percent.
A Kuala Lumpur-based dealer said sentiment in Malaysia was positive as investors took the decision by Malaysia's central bank to hold interest rates as making equities more attractive. In Bangkok, consumer stocks were among bright spots on expectations they would benefit from the new government's policies to boost consumption. CP All, the operator of the country's largest convenience store, gained as much as 2.6 percent to an all-time high.
The Thai SET index surged 4.5 percent on the week, its best performance in three weeks, after the landslide win of the opposition Puea Thai Party in the weekend election helped remove some political uncertainty from the market. The index ended the week at 1,088.46, still struggling to pass a 15-year high of 1,113 set in late April as the pro-growth policies of the new government have also raised concerns about inflation, which would lead to more rate hikes by the Bank of Thailand.