BENGALURU: Emerging Asia stocks cooled on Friday after a Fed-driven rally, though most Southeast Asian markets remained on track to finish November higher.
The MSCI EM Asia index eased from a one-week peak, dragged by a 1.5 percent drop in South Korea’s KOSPI, which makes up roughly 16 percent of the gauge.
Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix fell around 2 percent each.
Equity gauges in Malaysia and Indonesia also declined on the day, with the former slipping to a five-week low.
However, stocks in Southeast Asia were headed for monthly gains as optimism over a likely US December rate cut drew investors back to risk assets after a record government shutdown stoked policy concerns and frothy valuations deepened the sell-off.
In Indonesia, the Jakarta Composite index was last trading around 100 points below its record level of 8,622.268 points scaled the previous day, but was on track to end the month 4.7 percent higher, its fifth consecutive monthly gain.
“Easing global financial conditions have revived risk appetite toward emerging markets,” said Tay Qi Hang, lead analyst at the research unit of The Economist.
“Indonesia stands out because its domestic story is still compelling: growth is holding around 5 percent, inflation is well contained, and BI (Bank Indonesia) policy rate is relatively supportive, encouraging a steady return of foreign capital.”
Foreign investors have poured USD796 million into Indonesian stocks so far in November, marking the strongest monthly inflows since August 2024, according to LSEG data.
In Singapore, the FTSE Straits Times index jumped 0.5 percent to an eight-session high, while the city-state’s dollar hovered around its four-week high of 1.2924 per US dollar.
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