Singapore and South East Asian Stocks Sinking Fast

Singapore stocks tumbled by the most among developed markets last month as investors pulled cash from Southeast Asia on concern about the future of global stimulus.

Singapore’s Straits Times Index, the benchmark gauge for the region’s biggest market, dropped 7.5 percent in the 10 days through Aug. 28, its longest losing streak since 2002. The gauge slumped 6 percent in August, the worst performance among the world’s developed equity markets. Jardine Cycle & Carriage Ltd., the largest shareholder of Indonesia’s PT Astra International (ASII), and commodities trader Olam International Ltd. led declines.

The SGX Centre which houses the Singapore Stock Exchange Ltd., center, stands in Singapore. The Straits Times Index has slumped 12 percent since Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said May 22 the central bank may start tapering $85 billion in monthly U.S. bond purchases if the world’s biggest economy improves. Photographer: Munshi Ahmed/Bloomberg

Stocks in Southeast Asia sank faster than global equities on signs regional economic growth is slowing and as Federal Reserve policy makers prepare to reduce U.S. bond buying that had prompted investors to buy riskier assets. Investors pulled $2.2 billion from Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines in August, after plowing $6.8 billion into the markets in 2012, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Bloomberg

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