Most Southeast Asian markets ease

Most Southeast Asian stock markets eased on Thursday, with investors worried about the global economic outlook after the US Federal Reserve cut its growth forecast, while resource shares fell amid concern about flagging world demand. Volume was light, however, with market turnover for the region falling 10-30 percent below the 30-day average.
Late bargain-hunting helped recoup losses in some markets, including Singapore and Indonesia. Stocks in Thailand and Vietnam edged down around 1 percent. Philippine shares and Malaysia posted small lossses, bouncing off their day's lows. The MSCI index of Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan fell 0.8 percent by 0939 GMT. Indonesia added $81 million in inflows to the $103 million in the previous two sessions, while Philippine shares posted a tiny $2.7 million in outflows, Thomson Reuters data showed.
Thailand reported $92.4 million in outflows, the biggest in two weeks, against $20 million in outflows on Wednesday, the exchange said. Political tension is damaging market sentiment ahead of the country's general election on July 3. Resource shares fell in line with weak global commodities. Thailand's biggest oil refiner, Thai Oil, lost 0.7 percent and Singapore-listed coal miner Straits Asia Resources dropped 2.3 percent.
Consumer-related stocks bucked the trend as investors shifted to stocks seen as relatively immune to volatility in global demand and likely to benefit from domestic consumption. Indonesia's main vehicle distributor, Astra International , climbed 1.3 percent and Thai food firm Charoen Pokphand Foods gained 0.9 percent. In Kuala Lumpur, shares in Malaysian lender and take-over target RHB Capital fell nearly 6 percent on a report the country's two largest banks, Maybank and CIMB Group, would no longer pursue a merger. In Manila, Philex Mining Corp surged 6.5 percent, extending Wednesday's rally when the top Philippine miner estimated its $1 billion Boyongan-Bayugo copper-gold prospect in southern Surigao province contained 5 billion pounds of copper and 9 million ounces of gold.