Southeast Asia stocks: Indonesia leads regional loss on Fed rate hike concerns

BANGKOK: Indonesian shares posted their biggest loss in almost two months on Thursday as investors sold off large-caps while Thai shares fell for a third day as concerns about a sooner-than-expected rise in U.S. interest rates triggered selling across the region.
    
Jakarta's Composite Index ended down 2.5 percent,
its worst one-day fall since Jan. 27. The Top 45 large-cap
stocks fell 3.3 percent, with the biggest losers
including Bank Danamon and developer Summarecon Agung .

    Optimism over Indonesia's election this year has bolstered
sentiment in the share market. The sell-offs trimmed its
year-to-date gain in U.S. dollar terms to 18.2 percent, but
still retained its position as Asia's second best performer so
far this year.

    The Thai SET index fell 0.2 percent to its lowest
close in more than one week, led by a 5 percent drop in shares
of Charoen Pokphand Foods, partly due to profit-taking.

    Foreign investors were net sellers of Thai shares for the
first time in three sessions. The lifting of the emergency
decree in Bangkok has attracted foreign buying over the past two
sessions. 

    Malaysia closed nearly unchanged, reporting a net
foreign selling of 143.5 million ringgit ($43.78 million)
    
SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS
 Change on day
 Market             Current     Prev Close    Pct Move
 TR SE Asia Index*   399.33        405.92       -1.62
 Singapore          3057.20       3080.75       -0.76
 Kuala Lumpur       1818.17       1817.44       +0.04
 Bangkok            1361.47       1364.27       -0.21
 Jakarta            4698.98       4821.46       -2.54
 Manila             6417.35       6462.49       -0.70
 Ho Chi Minh         600.26        605.59       -0.88
 
 Change on year
 Market             Current       End 2013    Pct Move
 TR SE Asia Index*   399.33        388.37       +2.82
 Singapore          3057.20       3167.43       -3.48
 Kuala Lumpur       1818.17       1866.96       -2.61
 Bangkok            1361.47       1298.71       +4.83
 Jakarta            4698.98       4274.18       +9.94
 Manila             6417.35       5889.83       +8.96
 Ho Chi Minh         600.26        504.63      +18.95
 * The Thomson Reuters South East Asia Index is a
highly representative indicator of stocks listed in Indonesia,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.  
($1 = 3.2775 Malaysian ringgit)
- Reuters