Southeast Asian stocks tumble

Singapore stocks retreated from a six-month high on Thursday while Indonesia slipped into negative territory for the month as Southeast Asia followed larger regional markets lower amid doubts about a further bailout for Greece. Broad-based profit-taking was seen across most markets, particularly in resources and materials stocks that have been significant outperformers this year.
Singapore-listed commodities trading house Noble Group fell 4.3 percent after it hit a three-month high the previous session. Noble and oil-rig builder Keppel Corp, which fell 2.7 percent, were the biggest drags on Singapore's Straits Times Index which closed down 1.1 percent, the worst-performing benchmark in Southeast Asia.
Asian markets were weak after euro zone ministers failed to resolve issues surrounding a second aid package for Greece and delayed a decision on the matter until next Monday at the earliest. Indonesian stocks fell 0.6 percent while Thailand's SETI also dropped 0.6 percent, with heavy weighted banks the biggest drags in Bangkok. Thai stocks have benefited this year from investors switching out of other markets, particularly Indonesia, but some analysts worry that a short-term pullback may be in order.
"Driven by foreign inflows, the SET index is only about 20 points below its recent peak in August last year, which was then the highest since July 1996," said Kasem Prunratanamala, analyst at CIMB Research. The Thai market's price-to-earnings multiple has gone up from 10.5 times to 11.5 times over the past couple of months, said Prunratanamala, who recommends investors lock in profits here and buy back when the benchmark dips below 1,000 again.
Indonesia maintained its underperformance this year with Thursday's drop bringing its year-to-date returns to just 2.8 percent. By contrast, the MSCI Asia-Pacific ex-Japan index is up 12.2 percent. Auto assembler Astra International, which surged more than 35 percent last year, fell 2 percent and deeper into negative territory on the year. Elsewhere in the region, Malaysia's stock market, considered the most defensive in the region due to low foreign ownership and reliance on domestic consumption, fell 0.7 percent. The Philippines fell 0.1 percent.