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Thailand’s key stock index hit a near two-week low on Tuesday as energy shares were dragged lower by a drop in crude oil prices and small caps came under selling pressure amid caution over tightening trading regulations from January 5.
Other markets in Southeast Asia were little changed, with public holidays in the region keeping trading activities light.
Thai SET index was down 0.3 per cent at 1,494.14, trimming gains so far in the year to 15.1 per cent, still among the region’s outperformers. The benchmark earlier hit 1,486.30, the lowest since December 17.
Shares of PTT Exploration and Production traded more than 1 per cent lower as Brent crude extended losses into a fourth session on Tuesday.
Shares of Inter Far East Engineering plunged 6.2 per cent and Pan Asia Footwear slipped 3.2 per cent as investors cut holdings in small caps before the exchange’s new measures kick in to curb excessive speculation in stock markets. The rule will be effective from January 5.
Broker KGI Securities expects the Thai market to move sideways on the final trading day of 2014, with a positive outlook for 2015.
“Looking to 2015, we remain moderately positive to SET in the first quarter due mainly to our view that European QE will take place and drive a new round of EM inflows,’’ it said in a report.
Jakarta’s composite index was 0.2 per cent higher at 5,185.98, with the shares of dividend yielding shares such as Telkomunikasi Indonesia among those actively traded. The index is heading for a 2014 gain of 21.4 per cent and trailing the Philippine index’s 22.8 per cent gain.
“It is slightly below our expectation of 5,300 on worse-than-expected IDR weakness which is negative for market growth outlook,’’ said Harry Su, head of research of Bahana Securities.
“On a more positive note, the Indonesian market would be well supported by lower oil prices, which should allow 2015 current account deficit to come down to 1.9 per cent of GDP from 2014’s level of 3.0 per cent,’’ he said.
The rupiah has lost 2.4 per cent against the dollar so far this year, partly due to weak economic data.
The Thai stock market will be shut from December 31 through Januart 2 for the New Year holidays and will reopen on January 5. Indonesia will be closed on December 31 and January 1, with trading resuming on January 2 and the Philippines will remain closed through January 2.
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