SE Asia Stocks: Mostly up on Greek election results
BANGKOK, June 18 – Most Southeast Asian stock markets rose today as Greek election results helped boost investor confidence, easing the fear of Europe’s currency bloc breaking up amid the lingering euro zone debt crisis.
Political parties supporting Greece’s international bailout will begin forging a government today after an election victory over radical leftists staved off the prospect of the debt-laden country leaving the euro and brought relief to global markets.
“We have a temporary relief that it is not a worse case scenario. But the (euro zone) problem is not over,” said Song Seng Wun, an economist at CIMB, based in Singapore. “We don’t know how much time it will buy as the outlook of the other troubled countries like Spain and Portugal has not changed.”
The Philippines jumped 2.4 per cent, Indonesia gained 1.1 per cent, Singapore added 0.5 per cent, and Malaysia edged up 0.2 per cent. Bucking the trend, Thailand edged down 0.2 per cent in late selling, erasing the early gains in the day.
Jaramporn Chotikasatien, president of the Stock Exchange of Thailand, today, warned investors to remain cautious on the market outlook, adding that it would remain volatile over the next two to three months on uncertainties about the debt problems in Europe. – Reuters
