SE Asia stocks: Indonesia at record close; Vietnam leads gain on week

[BANGKOK] Southeast Asian stock markets rose on Friday as energy shares gained along with global oil prices and inflows boosted selected telecom stocks, bringing the Indonesian index to a record closing high and Philippines near a record close.

The Jakarta composite index finished up 0.6 per cent at 5,374.17, topping the previous record close of 5,348.47 hit on Feb 9.

Shares of Telkom Indonesia, among the actively traded, jumped 2.9 per cent to a record closing high on foreign buying, Thomson Reuters data showed.

Indonesia reported late on the day that its current account deficit narrowed to 2.81 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the last quarter of 2014 from a revised 2.99 per cent in July-September.

The Philippine main index ended up 0.8 per cent at 7,773.45, near its record close of 7,782.57 set on Feb 9.

Philippine Long Distance Telephone ros 2.2 per cent, boosted by foreign-led buying, stock exchange data showed. The rally was in line with its US-listed shares, which closed up almost 2 percent overnight.

Energy stocks were actively traded across exchanges, led by Malaysia's Tenega Nasional, Thailand's PTT and Singapore's Keppel Corp, as oil rose above US$60 a barrel on Friday for the first time this year.

Markets ended the week with mixed performances. Vietnam posted a weekly gain of 2.3 per cent and was Southeast Asia's best performer, while Malaysia slipped 0.7 per cent on the week, the worst.

Vietnam's markets will be closed on Feb 16-23 for the Lunar New Year holiday. Trading will resume on Feb 24.

REUTERS