By Chua Baizhen
SINGAPORE, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Southeast Asian stocks mostly
rose on Friday, brushing off earlier fears of global unrest
sparked by an assassination in Pakistan, but financials such as
DBS Group (DBSM.SI) dragged on Singapore as lingering concerns
over the health of the U.S. economy weighed.
Singapore's Straits Times Index .STI dropped 0.9 percent
and Philippine stocks .PSI closed 1.3 percent lower.
Malaysian .KLSE and Vietnam shares .VNI both climbed
0.6 percent, stocks in Indonesia .JKSE added 0.2 percent
while Thailand's benchmark index .SETI was 0.7 percent
higher.
"The events in Pakistan should remain contained. For
Singapore, trading volumes are quite low and the sell-down is
not a reflection of news of the assassination," said Kwok Chern
Yeh, an investment manager at Aberdeen Asset Management.
Earlier in the day, news of the assassination of Pakistani
opposition leader Benazir Bhutto sent jitters across Southeast
Asian stock markets on fears of possible political instability
in the region.
Traders said the sell-off was also caused by Wall Street's
weak performance overnight, after an analyst warning of larger
mortgage-related write-offs hit financials there and a
disappointing durable goods report dampened sentiments on the
U.S. economy's outlook. [ID:nN27430181]
In Singapore, top bank DBS Group fell 1.6 percent, bourse
operator Singapore Exchange (SGXL.SI) was down 2.3 percent,
Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC.SI) slid 1.1 percent and
United Overseas Bank (UOBH.SI) ended 0.3 percent lower.
The city-state's benchmark index, whose financial component
stocks are among the region's most sensitive towards Wall
Street, had gained 15 percent this year but was the region's
worst-performing index for the period.
UBS analyst Min Lan Tan said in a note that the Singapore
stock market would remain cautious in 2008, with a potential
upside of 15 percent from current levels.
"We prefer quality big caps, stocks with
structurally-driven growth and (stocks with) a reasonable
dividend yield, as opposed to small caps and liquidity-driven
stocks," she said.
In Malaysia, plantation giant Sime Darby's (SIME.KL) 1.7
percent rise helped lift the benchmark index, which had gained
32 percent this year. KL Kepong (KLKK.KL) and IOI Corp
(IOIB.KL) added 1.8 percent and 0.7 percent respectively as
investors continued to play high crude palm-oil prices.
But top lender Malayan Banking (MBBM.KL) capped gains,
falling 0.8 percent after it said it would consider selling a
stake in its Islamic bank. [ID:nKLR186288]
Energy firms in Thailand tracked global oil prices, which
were up for the fifth session to $97 a barrel on Friday, with
top oil and gas firm PTT PCL PTT.BK up 1.1 percent and its
unit PTT Exploration and Production PTTE.BK 1.9 percent
higher.
The Thai stock market was up 26 percent for the year,
compared to the Philippine index's 21 percent rise and
Vietnam's gain of 23 percent.
The Jakarta Composite Index rose the most in the year so
far, up 52 percent, with mining stocks such as PT International
Nickel Indonesia (INCO.JK) and Aneka Tambang (ANTM.JK) lifting
the index to a record high this month.
(Editing By Ovais Subhani)
