BANGKOK: Thai shares fell about 3 percent to their lowest in 7 weeks on Monday following a spate of domestic fund selling last week, while Singapore stocks rose as much as 1.5 percent with financials leading the gains. Asian shares rose, getting a tailwind from gains on Wall Street after a weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs report prompted markets to trim expectations that the Federal Reserve would hike interest rates as early as this month.
“September is a very event-heavy month,” said Victor Felix, an analyst with AB Capital Securities Inc in Manila, referring to the meetings of the Fed, OPEC, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan next week, and the G20 this month. “Don’t think there will be any concrete actions from the BOJ and BOE meetings. They will be talking about how their fiscal measures aren’t working, and will continue to discuss easing measures, which will be good for equities.”
A majority of economists expect the BOJ will ease policy further next month, a Reuters poll found, while many respondents suspect a change in its inflation target terminology is likely. “We’re generally optimistic on the trading outlook for Southeast Asian stocks this week,” Felix said. Thailand’s SET index was down 1.4 percent as of 0349 GMT after posting its biggest intraday percentage fall since June 24.
“Looking at foreign markets and the Fed’s interest rate outlook, I think it’s not an external factor but rather an internal one. What we see now is selling from institutional investors,” said Canakas Chirasevenupraphund, head of research of Capital Nomura Securities. Institutional investors sold a net 4.86 billion baht ($140.42 million) on Friday, and sold a total of 9.27 billion baht last week.
Meanwhile, Singapore’s Straits Times Index was headed for its first gain in seven sessions, with index heavyweights DBS Group Holdings Ltd and United Overseas Bank Ltd among the biggest gainers. Telecom stocks continued their slides after Australia’s TPG Telecom submitted expressions of interest to the Singapore telecommunications regulator in an auction of radio airwaves later this year that is aimed at establishing a fourth mobile operator.
