SE Asia Stocks: Slide amid Spanish concerns; PTTEP drags Thai index
BANGKOK, July 23 – Southeast Asian stock indexes closed lower after light volume trading today as investors sold risk assets amid concerns Spain might require a full sovereign bailout, while Thai shares fell nearly two per cent on PTTEP’s capital raising plan.
The Thai benchmark SET index finished down 1.9 per cent, its biggest percentage drop in one day since June 1.
Energy explorer PTT Exploration and Production Pcl dropped 4.8 per cent to its lowest close in six weeks.
Other markets also came under selling pressure with Jakarta stocks ending down 1.8 per cent at a one-week low and Philippine stocks dropping 1.4 per cent to their lowest close in almost a month.
Singapore’s Straits Times Index was down 1.1 per cent at a one-week low. Malaysian shares and Vietnam’s stock index fell 0.4 per cent and 0.6 per cent, respectively. – Reuters
