Stocks in Indonesia and the Philippines closed at record highs on Monday, outperforming most of their Southeast Asian peers, despite worries about mounting US and eurozone debt problems which are driving investors from riskier assets in much of the rest of the world.
While many investors scaled back activity amid the global uncertainty, other remained positive on fast growing regional economies such as Indonesia and the Philippines, which saw $36 million and $9.8 million of foreign inflows during the day, respectively.
Jakarta's main share index, Asia's best performer with a 8.9 percent year-to-date gain through Friday, rose a further 0.2 percent on Monday. Manila, the second-best performer, also ended at a fresh closing high after gaining 0.4 percent.
"While investors are hopeful of positive earnings from the long list of companies that will be reporting this week, European and US debt woes continue to weigh down sentiments," said Song Seng Wun, a Singapore-based regional economist at CIMB-GK Research.
"There is nothing to get anyone exited about anything at this point," he said adding that investors were waiting for clear developments in the US and European debt crises to give direction to markets.
Trading volumes were generally lower than their respective 30-day averages as investors turned more cautious, with Indonesia and Thailand seeing the day's volume recording 0.88 and 0.96 times of their 30-day average, respectively.
In Indonesia, the nation's biggest-listed firm and top vehicle distributor Astra International led the overall index higher, surging 3.1 percent as higher-than-expected car sales boosted its earnings outlook.
John Teja, director at Ciptadana Securities in Jakarta, said he expects consumer-related stocks to continue to boost the index despite global worries about possible debt defaults in the United States and Europe.
In the Philippines, top property developer Ayala Land Inc rose 0.7 percent after striking a deal with a provincial government to develop a property, though rival SM Prime Holdings Said the award was invalid.
Thai stocks closed 0.4 percent higher at their best level in over a week, boosted by energy and bank shares as investors bet on stronger earnings, though global concerns and domestic political uncertainty continued to weigh on investor confidence and trading volume.
Teerada Charnyingyong, senior strategist at broker Phillip Securities in Bangkok, said the strong baht will attract more foreign inflows despite the political uncertainty.
Thailand saw a net foreign inflow of 174.6 million baht ($5.8 million) on Monday, Reuters data showed.
Thailand's prime minister-elect Yingluck Shinawatra is facing heavy pressure to fulfil a raft of big-spending campaign promises which some economists fear will fuel inflation and possibly damage the economy.
By 1000 GMT, the MSCI index of Asia excluding Japan was 0.6 percent down while the MSCI index of Southeast Asia stocks slid 0.40 percent.
Key stock indexes in Malaysia and Singapore closed 0.9 percent and 0.2 percent lower, respectively.
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