Singaporean and Thai stocks edged up on Friday as better-than-expected earnings lured buyers to big caps but others in Southeast Asia gave up early gains as fund flows to the region slowed ahead of a European summit on Sunday. A choppy trading session, with markets moving in a narrow range, reflected nervousness over the long-running saga of the eurozone's debt problems.
"Few investors wish to be caught out if there is some kind of agreement this weekend," said Singapore-based Mark Matthews, head of research at Julius Baer. "Even if it disappoints, there is still a chance of something more substantial at the G20 meeting in Cannes on 3-4 November."
Singapore's Straits Times Index and Thailand's SET index gained almost 1 percent, led by a 1.9 percent rise in Singapore rig builder Keppel Corp Ltd and a 4.5 percent surge in top Thai lender Bangkok Bank Pcl. Keppel's third-quarter net profit beat expectations and Goldman Sachs raised its target price on the stock to S$8.90. Keppel closed at S$8.95.
Bangkok Bank also surprised the market with a better-than-expected 22 percent rise in third-quarter profit, helping reverse a three-day fall caused by concern about fourth-quarter earnings due to flooding. Other banks rose and the sector subindex added 2.7 percent.
Stocks in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines ended flat. Vietnam climbed 1.8 percent, adding to Thursday's 0.6 percent rise. Yasmin Soulisa, an analyst at Bapindo Bumi Sekuritas, expected Jakarta's Composite Index to move in a range of 3,500-3,800 next week, compared to 3,620.66 on Friday.
"Negative sentiment from the eurozone lingers. It is unlikely that the EU summit on Sunday will end in a solid deal," she said. The bright spot was coal miner PT Bumi Resources Tbk, up 4.8 percent due to foreign buying, she said. In Kuala Lumpur, the index briefly dropped 4.9 percent in afternoon trade before rebounding. Most of the region's markets had a negative week, after a strong gain the week before. Thai stocks fell 4.1 percent on the week, Southeast Asia's worst performance, as investors worried about the impact of flooding on manufacturing and the economy.
Growth in Thai exports slowed in September and the picture will get worse in the fourth quarter because of the flooding, the Commerce Ministry said. Indonesia and Malaysia reported outflows on Friday of $34 million and 5 million ringgit ($1.6 million) respectively, while the Philippines had $1.9 million in inflows, Thomson Reuters and stock exchange data showed. Thailand had $37.3 million in foreign inflows on Friday, stock exchange data showed. The market is closed on Monday for a national holiday and reopens on Tuesday.
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