Image: FILE PHOTO – Investors monitor share market prices in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, August 25, 2015. REUTERS/Olivia Harris.
By Nicole Pinto
(Reuters) – Most Southeast Asian stock markets fell on Monday, with Malaysia declining for a fifth session in six, while Indonesia extended gains on the back of financial and infrastructure stocks.
“There are lots of pitfalls that could sideswipe the markets,” said Stephen Innes, head of trading APAC at Oanda, referring to the U.S.-China trade issues, N.Korea-U.S. summit and strong U.S. dollar.
U.S. oil futures hit six-week lows on expectations major producers may ease output curbs, while Asian stocks and U.S. share futures gained on signs the United States and North Korea were still working towards holding a summit. [MKTS/GLOB]
In Malaysia, trading services firms including IHH Healthcare and Sime Darby were among the top losers.
IHH Healthcare fell as much as 4.8 percent and Sime Darby plunged 9 percent on disappointing quarterly results.
Vietnam shares fell as much as 2.9 percent to a more than five-month low. Vinhomes declined 5.5 percent and Vietnam Prosperity Joint Stock Commercial Bank fell 5 percent.
Indonesian shares climbed as much as 1.4 percent and were headed for a fifth straight session of gains. Bank Mandiri (Persero) Tbk PT rose 5 percent and Bank Central Asia Tbk PT climbed 1.1 percent. The central bank said on Friday that it would hold an additional meeting of its board of governors on Wednesday to discuss economic and monetary conditions.
“We suspect that the persistent selloff in the rupiah and upward pressures on local government bond yields (despite the recent 25bps rate hike) may prompt further action,” DBS said in a note.
“Further BI rate hikes may be needed, with the next one possibly as early as this week.”
(Reporting by Nicole Pinto; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
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