SE Asia Stocks-Extend losses ahead of Fed, Malaysia bucks fall

Tue Nov 3, 2009 5:40am EST
 
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 * Thai shares down for fifth day, PTTEP weighs
 * Malaysia bounces back, financials hit Singapore
 By Ploy Ten Kate
 BANGKOK, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Most Southeast Asian stock
markets extended recent losses on Tuesday in a market cautious
ahead of a U.S. Federal Reserve meeting, and lower oil prices
forced down big-cap energy and resource shares across the
region.
 Singapore .FTSTI lost 0.9 percent, adding to Monday's 0.2
percent decline, and Thailand .SETI ended down 1.3 percent
after touching its lowest in over eight weeks.
 Indonesia .JKSE shed 1.6 percent, while Vietnam .VNI,
Southeast Asia's best performer so far this year, sank 3.9
percent to its lowest in nearly eight weeks.
 Analysts said investors were cautious ahead of policy
announcements from central banks this week, including the
Federal Reserve, which began a two-day meeting on Tuesday.
 "The main question facing investors is when governments
will start raising short-term interest rates from near-zero
levels," said Kevin Scully of Singapore's NRA Capital.
 The U.S. central bank is widely expected to keep rates
unchanged but there is a chance the Fed will drop its pledge to
keep rates low for an extended period of time. [ID:nFEDAHEAD]
 By 1017 GMT, Dow Jones futures DJc1 were down 0.9 percent
and S&P 500 futures SPc1 were also 0.9 percent lower, while
the MSCI index of Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS was 1.6 percent lower.
 Among top decliners in Singapore were CapitaLand (CATL.SI),
down 2.4 percent, Keppel Corp (KPLM.SI), the world's largest
offshore oil rig builder, down 2.6 percent and Singapore
Exchange (SGXL.SI) down 1.8 percent.
 Singapore Telecommunications (STEL.SI), Southeast Asia's
largest telecoms company, slid 1.4 percent, underperforming the
broader market after CLSA said it had taken the company off its
conviction buy list.
 The broker downgraded the stock from "buy" to "outperform"
on fears of a price war in India, where it owns Bharti Airtel
(BRTI.BO).
 The firm has agreed to raise its effective stake in India's
mobile phone operator Bharti Airtel (BRTI.BO) to 31.95 percent
from 30.43 percent. [ID:nSIN142598]
 Shares in Singapore-listed property trust Saizen REIT
(SZNR.SI) tumbled 6.9 percent after it said it had defaulted on
a 7.253 billion yen ($80.25 million) commercial mortgage-backed
securities loan. [ID:nSP480355]
 In Bangkok, investors unloaded energy blue chips after oil
slipped below $78 per barrel ahead of data expected to show a
rise in U.S. crude oil stocks. Oil and gas major PTT PTT.BK,
was down 2.2 percent, with Thai Oil TOP.BK easing 1.2 percent
and Banpu BANP.BK, the largest miner, declining 1.4 percent.
 PTT Exploration and Production PTTE.BK fell more than 5
percent despite saying it had stopped an oil leak and doused
the main fire on its Montara and West Atlas oil rig in the
Timor Sea. [ID:nSYD410182]
 In Kuala Lumpur, Bursa Malaysia queried unusual price moves
in tech firm Lityan (LYAN.KL), which slid as much 18 percent on
the day. Lityan's share price has more than doubled since its
relisting on Oct. 30. The share closed down 9.3 percent.
 Decliners in Jakarta included coal miner Bumi Resources
(BUMI.JK), down 5.2 percent, wiping out all of Monday's 2.1
percent gain.
 Number two lender PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BBRI.JK) lost
3.5 percent and top automotive distributor PT Astra
International Tbk (ASII.JK) fell 2.6 percent.
 (Editing by Alan Raybould)




















































































 

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