SE Asia stocks down tracking Asia, bank woes

SE Asia stocks down tracking Asia, bank woes

An investor monitors share prices at the SET’s Maruey Knowledge & Resource Center on Jan 8, 2016. (Photo by Patipat Janthong)
An investor monitors share prices at the SET’s Maruey Knowledge & Resource Center on Jan 8, 2016. (Photo by Patipat Janthong)

Most Southeast Asian stock markets fell on Friday as concerns about the health of European banks and the global economic outlook hit Asia, with risk-averse investors cautious ahead of a raft of economic data in the region next week.

Indonesia underperformed in the region, with the Jakarta composite index ending down 1.3% at 4,714.39, the lowest close in more than one week.

It dropped 1.8% on the week, in line with the poor showing by regional peers in a holiday-thinned trading week and amid a shift of money to safe-heaven assets.

Weak balance of payments data in 2015 further dented market sentiment in Jakarta while investors also awaited trade data in January, due on Monday.

The SET index was down 0.33% on the day. Bangkok awaited fourth-quarter GDP data next week, with a Thomson Reuters poll forecasting a growth of 2.7% on an annual basis.

Singapore's Straits Times Index ended the day a tad higher, trimming its losses on the week to 3.2%. On the week, Malaysia fell about 1% and the Philippines lost 1.6%.

Vietnam, which was closed all week for the Lunar New Year holiday, will reopen on Monday.

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