Southeast Asia stocks: Indonesian, Philippine shares hit record closing highs

[BANGKOK] Indonesian and Philippine shares hit record closing highs on Friday amid foreign inflows after the European Central Bank unveiled its bond-buying programme, while a late rally in banking shares boosted the Thai stock market.

The Jakarta composite index finished up 1.35 per cent at an all-time closing high of 5,323.88, taking its gain on the week to 3.4 per cent, the biggest since March 2014.

Net foreign buying worth 1.61 trillion rupiah (US$129.11 million) boosted large cap stocks such as Astra International and Bank Rakyat Indonesia.

The Philippine main index climbed 1.8 per cent to end at 7,548.93, its third record closing high in the new year, surpassing 7,490.88 hit on Jan 14.

Foreign investors bought shares worth a net 833.08 million pesos (US$18.9 million) on the Philippine bourse.

The Malaysian and Thai bourses recorded net foreign inflows of 259.4 million ringgit (US$72 million) and 3.28 billion baht (US$100.58 million) respectively, stock exchange data showed.

In Bangkok, banking shares jumped 7.8 per cent, sending the benchmark SET index 2.4 per cent higher on the day and up 5.3 per cent on the week, making it Southeast Asia's best performer.

The European Central Bank took the ultimate policy leap on Thursday, launching a government bond-buying programme which will pump hundreds of billions in new money into a sagging eurozone economy.

REUTERS