Southeast Asian stock markets ended down in thin trade on yesterday as investors stayed away ahead of holidays, with all markets posting losses in 2015 except Vietnam. Singapore’s key Straits Times Index dipped 0.1 per cent in mixed trade, with losses in most big caps offsetting gains in several blue chips. The index, Southeast Asia’s worst performer last year, posted a 14.34 per cent drop in 2015.

The stock market traded for half a day yesterday and will be shut on Friday (today) for the New Year holiday. Kuala Lumpur’s composite index stood nearly flat, edging down 0.04 per cent, with volume hitting a seven-week low in thin trade. The market ended 2015 with a 3.9 per cent loss, its second year in a row. Vietnam eked out a 6.12 per cent gain in 2015, the slightest rise in four years.

However, the country last year was the sole gainer in Southeast Asia. The region’s markets finished mostly down for the year, reflecting a difficult 2015 for its mainly export-dependent economies, with the Thomson Reuters index of Southeast Asian bourses down 19 per cent.

Singapore and Thailand saw the biggest slumps while the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia also reported losses. Only Vietnam, the smallest of the six bourses, finished the year in positive territory, a fourth consecutive year of gains.

Malaysia and Vietnam are closed today. Stock markets in Indonesia and Thailand were closed on yesterday and today.
The Philippines did not open today being New Year day.