South East Asian stocks end 2011 on high note

Most Southeast Asian stock markets pushed higher on Friday and some even managed small gains on the year, in contrast to the rest of Asia, depressed by Europe's unresolved debt crisis and worries about global demand. Even though Southeast Asian markets had their worst year since 2008, when the global financial crisis hit share values, the Philippines, which was closed on Friday, was Asia's best-performing market this year with a 4.1 percent gain.
Indonesia came second with a rise of 3.2 percent and Kuala Lumpur managed to eke out a gain of 0.78 percent. They were the only markets to go up in Asia this year. The resilience of domestic consumption helped Indonesia overcome an external slowdown and optimism about the mining and telecoms sectors underpinned sentiment in the Philippines.
In a choppy trading session, Jakarta's Composite Index edged up 0.35 percent on Friday to six-week highs and Thailand rose 0.14 percent, but Singapore's Straits Times Index fell 1 percent to the lowest in more than a week.
Late buying sent Malaysia's index up 1.6 percent to its highest in almost five months. The Malaysian bourse said domestic institutions led buyers with a net $33 million. Vietnam edged up 0.3 percent but plunged 27.5 percent on the year, Southeast Asia's worst performance, because of domestic economic woes. Singapore dropped 17 percent, hurt by its exposure to the global marketplace.
Market turnover was generally subdued ahead of the New Year celebrations. The Philippines and Indonesia reopen on Monday, Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam on Tuesday and Thailand on Wednesday. In a research note on the outlook for 2012, CIMB Securities said the Indonesian market remained a safe haven pick and it kept the Thai market at "overweight", while downgrading Malaysia to "neutral" from "overweight".
Indonesia's passing of a long-awaited land acquisition law, which could help infrastructure development, might lift its growth outlook, while Thailand's reconstruction efforts after flooding plus buoyant consumption boded well for corporate earnings there the broker said. Top Thai convenience store CP All Pcl climbed 1 percent, for a gain of 31 percent on the year, and PT Unilever Indonesia Tbk gained 1.6 percent, up 14 percent on the year thanks to strong domestic spending.