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Thursday July 3, 6:08 PMSE Asian Stocks-Indonesia leads losses as coal firms tumbleSINGAPORE, July 3 (Reuters) - Indonesian stocks slumped nearly 4 percent on Thursday, their biggest one-day fall in fourth months, after a drop in world coal prices hit miners PT Bumi Resources and PT Indo Tambangraya Tbk Megah .Markets in much of the rest of Southeast Asia also fell on fears that slowing global economic growth and rising oil and raw material prices would erode company profits and consumer confidence. Singapore's benchmark fell 0.9 percent, Thailand 2 percent and the Philippine index 2.3 percent. U.S. coal prices fell sharply on Wednesday, mirroring a European sell-off which dealers said was due to speculation that the rally in the last four weeks was overdone. [nN02380599] PT Bumi Resources tumbled nearly 14 percent to its lowest in nearly two months but is still up 20 percent so far this year. Rivals PT Indo Tambangraya Tbk Megah and PT Aneka Tambang Tbk fell 8 and 3.9 percent, respecitvely, pulling the Indonesian index down 3.9 percent. "Banking shares were not badly hit today as they have dropped considerably lately, but for some commodities which have been overpriced, they faced a correction today," said John Teja, head of equities sales at Ciptadana Securities. "The central bank decision to increase the benchmark rate by 25 basis points was largely priced in." Indonesia's central bank raised its key interest rate on Thursday for the third time this year to contain inflation. [nJAK207573] The world's largest archipelago is also the largest thermal coal exporter and its miners have been performing well due to high coal prices, strong demand from China and India, and supply constraints in Australia. Thailand's largest coal miner Banpu and Singapore-listed commodities firm Noble Group also pulled back 8.2 and 6.5 percent, leading losses in their markets. In Singapore, shipping firm Neptune Orient Lines sank 7.4 percent to a 14-week low on renewed concerns that it may be overpaying for its bid in world number five Hapag-Llyod. [nL03242100] Battered Vietnamese shares rose 2.6 percent to their highest in six weeks as local investors gain confidence, but analysts said the long term stability of the economy remains uncertain. "While local investor confidence was strongly restored with a brighter macro outlook, foreign investors seemed more cautious about the stability of the economy," said Viet Capital Securities Joint Stock Company in a note. "Foreign trading accounted less than 15 percent in recent sessions." Share trading on the Malaysian stock exchange was suspended on Thursday following an early morning computer glitch, but dealers warned shares could fall sharply when trading resumes. [nKLR152193] (Additional reporting by Harry Suhartono, Editing by Kim Coghill) |
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