* Washington plans partial trade deal with Beijing at Chile
summit
* Indonesia set to post biggest weekly gain in nearly 5
months
* Singapore Exchange rises 7.5% after strong Q1 results
By Sameer Manekar
Oct 25 (Reuters) - Most Southeast Asian stock markets traded
in the red on Friday as uncertainty over the Sino-U.S. trade
deal was revived ahead of fresh rounds of negotiations, while
concerns about global economic slowdown continued to rattle
confidence.
Investors are also nervous ahead of a summit in Chile where
U.S. President Donald Trump hopes to finalise a partial trade
deal with China's Xi Jinping.
Lifting uncertainties was a speech by U.S. Vice President
Mike Pence on Thursday, which criticised China's handling of the
Hong Kong protests and its treatment of Muslim Uighurs in the
Xinjiang region. Also dampening sentiment, a Reuters poll of economists found
that the recent truce in the U.S.-China trade dispute is not an
economic turning point and has failed to reduce a significant
risk that the world's biggest economy could slip into recession
in the next two years. Dented by financials and consumer stocks, the Indonesian
index .JKSE slipped more than half a percent after rising 5.2%
over 10 straight sessions. The benchmark is set to post its
biggest weekly gain in nearly five months.
The Indonesian central bank cut its benchmark rate for the
fourth consecutive time in as many months on Thursday to support
growth in Southeast Asia's largest economy. "Further policy easing by Bank Indonesia will help support
growth, but a definitive and quick turnaround is unlikely to
materialise, leaving financial markets devoid of any strong
impetus to react in either direction in the near term," ANZ
Research said in a note.
Thai stocks .SETI opened lower for a second straight
session, and were on track to post a 1.3% weekly loss.
Energy stocks weighed on the index as oil prices slipped on
Friday, with heavyweight PTT PCL PTT.BK falling 0.6% and Thai
Oil PCL TOP.BK losing as much as 5.2%. O/R
The Philippine bourse .PSI retreated from previous
session's gains, while banking stocks advanced after the central
bank cut the amount of cash that lenders must hold as reserves
by 100 basis points as it looks to boost liquidity and shore up
growth. Bank of Philippine Islands BPI.PS and Metropolitan Bank
and Trust MBT.PS gained 2.2% and 1.1%, respectively.
Bucking the trend, Singapore shares .STI rose and were on
track to post their biggest weekly gain in over four months.
Singapore Exchange SGXL.SI shares marked their best
session in over 10 years after the company reported its biggest
quarterly net profit in 12 years on Thursday. Industrial conglomerate Keppel Corp KPLM.SI is on track to
post its biggest weekly gain in nearly 11 years, after
state-owned investor Temasek Holdings' offered S$4.1 billion
($3.01 billion) to buy control of Keppel on Monday. Asian Companies click;
SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS AS AT 0442 GMT
Change on the day
Market Current Previous close Pct Move
Singapore 3183.46 3168.87 0.46
Bangkok 1609.2 1620.97 -0.73
Manila 7923.62 7950.98 -0.34
Jakarta 6303.476 6339.647 -0.57
Kuala Lumpur 1569.4 1571.11 -0.11
Ho Chi Minh 995.25 993.6 0.17
Change so far in 2019
Market Current End 2018 Pct Move
Singapore 3183.46 3068.76 3.74
Bangkok 1609.2 1563.88 2.90
Manila 7923.62 7,466.02 6.13
Jakarta 6303.476 6,194.50 1.76
Kuala Lumpur 1569.4 1690.58 -7.17
Ho Chi Minh 995.25 892.54 11.51
($1 = 1.3636 Singapore dollars)