* Telecom sector boosts Indonesia
* Thailand to borrow 600 bln baht in 2020 to cushion
COVID-19
impact
* Malaysia's March CPI down 0.2% y/y
By Nikhil Subba
April 22 (Reuters) - Southeast Asian markets recovered from
early losses on Wednesday to end marginally higher, led by a
1.5% rise in Indonesian stocks, which was powered by gains in
consumer and telecom stocks.
Local investors in the Indonesian market moved into stocks
that would benefit from the work-from-home scenario, according
to Hariyanto Wijaya, head of research at Mirae Asset Sekuritas
Indonesia.
Telecom stocks, which have substantial weightage in
Indonesia's benchmark .JKSE , in particular have been
benefitting from the lockdown in the country amid the COVID-19
pandemic, as data traffic has been growing exponentially.
Analysts expect this to lead to a 6%-7% rise in 2020 revenue for
the cellular industry.
In the same vein, Indonesia's XL Axiata EXCL.JK closed up
11%, its highest since Feb. 28. The wireless telecom company
said it remains cautiously positive and expects COVID-19
tailwinds in March to boost traffic volumes going into the
second quarter of 2020.
Thai stocks .SETI closed up 0.7% after falling as much as
1.7% earlier in the day.
Thailand's finance ministry on Wednesday said the government
plans to borrow 600 billion baht ($18.56 billion) in the current
fiscal year to September and 400 billion baht in the next fiscal
year to finance measures to mitigate the coronavirus
impact. Electronics Industry EIC.BK gained 25% at close, while
Capital Engineering Network CEN.BK rose about 13%.
Malaysia's main index .KLSE settled marginally higher,
with Top Glove Corp TPGC.KL closing up 5.4% and Hartalega
Holdings HTHB.KL 4.4% higher.
Malaysia's March inflation declined 0.2% versus a year ago,
on the back of a sharp fall in transport costs, a fallout of the
recent massive drop in global oil prices.
Analysts at ANZ believe Bank Negara Malaysia will likely cut
rates by another 25bps.
Meanwhile, Philippines .PSI closed the session 0.3% down,
with Alliance Global AGI.PS falling 4.5% and GT Capital
GTCAP.PS tumbling over 5%.
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SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS
Change on the
day
Market Current Previous Pct Move
close
Singapore 2550.04 2551.92 -0.07
Bangkok 1261.81 1252.92 0.71
Manila 5573.75 5592.25 -0.33
Jakarta 4567.562 4501.919 1.46
Kuala Lumpur 1381.89 1381.73 0.01
Ho Chi Minh 768.92 766.84 0.27
Change so far in
2020
Market Current End 2019 Pct Move
Singapore 2550.04 3222.83 -20.88
Bangkok 1261.81 1579.84 -20.13
Manila 5573.75 7,815.26 -28.68
Jakarta 4567.562 6,299.54 -27.49
Kuala Lumpur 1381.89 1588.76 -13.02
Ho Chi Minh 768.92 960.99 -19.99