Malaysian stocks snap 4 sessions of fall, SET rebounds

Malaysian stocks snap 4 sessions of fall, SET rebounds

The Stock Exchange of Thailand main index rises 0.5% to close at 1,741.21 on Friday. (Bangkok Post photo)
The Stock Exchange of Thailand main index rises 0.5% to close at 1,741.21 on Friday. (Bangkok Post photo)

Malaysian shares rose more than 1% on Friday and snapped four straight sessions of fall, while the Stock Exchange of Thailand main index ended higher.

The Malaysian stock market jumped as the finance minister's announcement that the government would pay all obligations on 1MDB debt calmed investors.

The government will honour all payments on debt raised by insolvent state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), even though it is unhappy about money missing from the fund, said Finance minister Lim Guan Eng.

Malaysian stocks closed the session 1.2% higher, but the week 3.1% lower, the biggest since September 2015, on concerns of worrying amounts of debts left behind by the previous government.

Public Bank Bhd and Tenaga Nasional were the biggest boost with gains of 2.3% and 1.9%, respectively.

The SET main index gained 8.70 points or 0.50% to close at 1,741.21, in trade worth 54.81 billion baht.

Indonesian shares gave up early gains to close 0.5% higher, marking their fourth session of gains.

Financials accounted for most of the gains with Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero) rising 3.9% and Bank Central Asia climbing 0.5%.

Bank Indonesia's newly sworn-in governor promised on Thursday to focus on stabilising the rupiah in the near term and to be "more pre-emptive" and ahead of the curve on monetary settings.

Investors welcomed the statement after weeks of weakness in local assets on the back of capital flight fears.

The key Jakarta stock index closed the week 3.3% higher, the biggest since the week ended Dec 30, 2016. An index of the country's 45 most liquid stocks was up 0.5% on Friday.

Singapore shares closed 0.4% lower after data released earlier in the day showed that industrial production rose at a slower-than-expected pace in April month-on-month.

For the week, Singapore stocks declined 0.5%, in their second weekly drop.

Philippine shares closed 0.1% lower, dragged by financial and real estate stocks.

The peso fell to a fresh 12-year low after the central bank on Thursday announced its second cut in banks' reserve requirement ratio in three months.

The Philippine key stock index shed 0.3% this week and Vietnam shares closed 2.2% lower.

Southeast Asian stock markets

 

 

Current

Previous

% change

Thailand

1,741.21

1,732.51

+0.50

Indonesia                

5,975.74

5,946.53

+0.49

Malaysia                

1,797.40

1,775.66

+1.22

Philippines

7,647.51

7,652.53

-0.07

Singapore                 

3,513.23

3,528.92

-0.44

Vietnam       

963.90

985.92

-2.23

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