All Southeast Asian stock markets extended losing streaks on Friday with Thailand plunging to a five-week closing low led by selling in energy shares amid falling global oil prices. Resuming trade after a second holiday this week, Thailand wavered 2.1 percent on Friday to a five-week low close, extending the loss to 3.9 percent for the week, the worst among its Asian peers and its highest weekly loss since the end of January.
Indonesia, the region's best performing market as of Friday, fell 0.46 percent to a more-than one-week closing low, while Singapore and Malaysia ended 0.33 and 0.37 percent down to a five-week lows. Philippines closed 0.7 percent weaker to a more than three-week low and Vietnam fell 1.37 percent to a near two-week low. Bangkok saw trading volume of 1.62 times of its 30-day average on Friday, while Jakarta 1.36 times of its 30-day average.
Malaysia suffered a net foreign outflow of $43.5 million, while Thailand saw a net outflow of $115 million on Friday, data from the respective stock exchanges showed. Indonesia, despite the fall, enjoyed a net foreign inflow of $27.9 million, close to that of the Philippines, which saw an injection of $28 million, Thomson Reuters data showed.
In Thailand, the energy sector index fell as much as 3.6 percent to its lowest close since March 18 and has dived 6.6 percent this week as Brent crude suffered 12.6 percent fall in the week as at 0945 GMT.
Oil collapsed into free-fall on Thursday, diving as much as 10 percent and sending US crude back under $100 a barrel as investors staged a nearly unprecedented stampede for the exits. Wikij Tirawannarat, a senior analyst at Capital Nomura Securities, said the underperformance of the broader market was mainly due to heavily weighted energy shares as investors sought to minimise exposure amid falling oil prices.
"Funds are cutting weight on commodities and raising portion in defensive like telecoms and food. We think this trend will continue for a while," Wikij said. Top oil firm PTT lost 3.9 percent, PTT Exploration and Production closed 4.5 percent weaker, and PTT Chemical fell 5.1 percent.
Bucking the trend, shares in Thailand's top brokerage Kim Eng Securities gained 6.9 percent following a tender offer by Malayan Banking at 16 baht per share, above market prices. Shares in Thai Airways International and Singapore Airlines jumped 3.3 percent and 2.6 percent respectively on expectations the national carrier would benefit from falling fuel costs after oil prices dropped.
In Singapore, United Overseas Bank , fell 1.6 percent as it posted a 13 percent fall in first quarter net profit. Philippine's largest power distributor Manila Electric Co , or Meralco, which fell 1.6 percent having posted a 6 percent rise in its first-quarter net income after the market closed, while one of the country's biggest power producer Aboitiz Power, lost 2.8 percent before posting a 31 percent fall in its last quarter net profit.