Most Southeast Asian stock markets were largely subdued on Friday as investors remained cautious ahead of the US payrolls data later in the day. Nonfarm payrolls are expected to increase by 175,000 in November after rising 161,000 in October, according to a Reuters survey of economists. The data will serve as further evidence of improvement in the US economy, strengthening the possibility of an interest rate hike by the Fed at its meeting on December 13-14.
Doubts over Thursday's Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) deal also affected sentiment. Traders doubt whether the agreement will suffice to ease the glut as it may only draw more supplies from storage tanks and more crude shipments from the United States, Trimegah Securities said in a note.
Oil fell as much as 1.45 percent on Friday as some investors opted to cash out after Brent touched a 16-month high on Thursday, with optimism over this week's Opec-Russia accord on cutting output giving way to questions on the "sticking point" of implementing the deal. Indonesia ended 0.9 percent higher, extending gains to a fourth session, helped by financials. Indonesian shares have gained 2.4 percent this week, their highest weekly gain since the week ended August 5.
Industry data released on Wednesday showed that Indonesia, the world's No 3 producer of cocoa, exported 5,970 tonnes of the chocolate ingredient in November from the island of Sulawesi, more than double the amount of a year ago Singapore ended 0.3 percent lower, snapping eight sessions of gains, with telecommunication service leading the losses. Singapore Telecommunica-tions Ltd dropped 1.3 percent.
The FTSE Straits Times Index ended 2.1 percent higher this week, posting its highest weekly gain since September 9. Vietnam closed marginally lower after two consecutive sessions of gains, dragged down by consumer staples and utilities. Philippines and Malaysia rose marginally while Thailand shed 0.7 percent.
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