* Ayala Land , Ayala Corp , Metro Pacific drag down
Philippines
* Protest against new bills hurts risk sentiment in
Indonesia
* Siam Commercial drops to lowest close in over 8 years
By Soumyajit Saha
Jan 20 (Reuters) - Philippine stocks .PSI dropped over 2%
to their lowest close in over three months, hurt by losses in
the real estate and infrastructure sectors, while banking shares
dragged down the Thai index .SETI .
Heavyweight real estate developer Ayala Land ALI.PS ,
conglomerate Ayala Corp AC.PS and utilities company Metro
Pacific Investments Corp MPI.PS fell between 5.4% and 7%,
after increased government scrutiny on certain projects.
Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte on Friday said he would
be reviewing the Manila Light Rail Transit contract, part of
which is with a consortium of Ayala Corp and Metro Pacific
Investments, the Manila Times reported https://www.manilatimes.net/2020/01/19/news/headlines/duterte-to-review-lrt-contract-next/675652
on Sunday.
According to a separate Manila Times story https://www.manilatimes.net/2020/01/20/news/top-stories/palace-isnt-done-with-ayala-targets-technohub/675908,
the Presidential spokesperson on Sunday said the Ayala
Technohub, an Ayala Land IT park project, might be subjected to
an investigation.
"It looks like the purported review of the two contracts
could be exerting pressure on the two entities (Ayala group and
Metro Pacific Investments)" Charles William Ang, associate
analyst at COL Financial Group said.
Losses in the banking sector dragged Thai shares down.
Lender Siam Commercial Bank SCB.BK dropped 12.8% to its
lowest close in over 8 years, on reporting lower quarterly net
interest income and attributable profit on Friday. Indonesian stocks .JKSE declined, as losses in the
consumer and banking sectors weighed on the index.
Cigarette maker Hanjaya Mandala Sampoerna HMSP.JK was down
2.2%, while lender Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero) BBNI.JK gave
up 2.9%.
An index of Indonesia's 45 most liquid stocks .JKLQ45 was
down 0.7%.
Protests by several thousand Indonesian workers against the
so-called "omnibus" bills, covering 79 laws and meant to replace
dozens of overlapping laws seen as obstacles to investment,
soured market sentiment.
"We think that investors are re-calibrating their excitement
of the omnibus law acting as a key catalyst for the nation's
growth," said Taye Shim, head of research at Mirae Asset
Sekuritas.
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SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS
STOCK MARKETS
Change on the day
Market Current Previous Pct Move
close
Singapore 3280.09 3281.03 -0.03
Bangkok 1589.11 1600.48 -0.71
Manila 7552.6 7722.58 -2.20
Jakarta 6245.043 6291.657 -0.74
Kuala Lumpur 1588.88 1595.81 -0.43
Ho Chi Minh 978.63 978.96 -0.03
Change so far in
2020
Market Current End 2019 Pct Move
Singapore 3280.09 3222.83 1.78
Bangkok 1589.11 1579.84 0.59
Manila 7552.6 7,815.26 -3.36
Jakarta 6245.043 6,299.54 -0.87
Kuala Lumpur 1588.88 1588.76 0.01
Ho Chi Minh 978.63 960.99 1.84