COLOMBO, June 24 — Malaysian stocks rose to a record high today tracking Asian markets, bolstered by encouraging manufacturing data from China, Japan, and the United States that pointed to a recovery in global economic growth.
Other Southeast Asian stock indices also gained after manufacturing surveys, leading indicators of output trends, showed factory activity in the US, China and Japan rose strongly in May.
The Malaysian index gained 0.4 per cent to an all-time high of 1,892.33 points, surpassing its previous record of 1,889.47 hit on May 19. Kuala Lumpur had a net foreign inflow of US$25.54 million (RM82.1 million).
Thai shares, however, underperformed the region, falling 0.5 per cent, with foreign outflows of US$6.25 million.
Energy shares led the fall as oil eased from recent nine-month highs. Banks also contributed to the fall as most Thai lenders reported a drop in loan growth in May.
In Jakarta, analysts said market players expected shares to fall on political uncertainty as Southeast Asia’s largest economy goes in for presidential polls next month.
“The market is quiet and uncertain following presidential debate and the gap between the two candidates is very close based on several surveys,” said John Teja, director of Jakarta-based broker Ciptadana Securities.
“I think the market will pull back down in the short term on rupiah weakness, higher oil prices and tight presidential race.”
Shares of PT Bumi Resources Tbk surged nearly 21.4 per cent after a sharp sell-off the previous day that saw it hitting an 11-year low, on concerns about the coal miner’s ability to repay debt.
In Singapore, commodities trader Olam International Ltd, ended 0.41 per cent firmer after it said it had sold an 80 per cent stake in its Australian grains business to Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp for US$64 million. — Reuters
