* Ayala Land , Ayala Corp , Metro Pacific drag down
Philippines
* Siam Commercial posts biggest intraday drop in over 11
years
By Soumyajit Saha
Jan 20 (Reuters) - Philippine shares .PSI slumped nearly
2% to a one-month low on Monday, dragged by sharp losses in real
estate and infrastructure heavyweights after reports of
increased government scrutiny on certain projects.
President Rodrigo Duterte said on Friday he would review the
Manila Light Rail Transit contract, the Manila Times reported https://www.manilatimes.net/2020/01/19/news/headlines/duterte-to-review-lrt-contract-next/675652
on Sunday.
A consortium of conglomerate Ayala Corp AC.PS and utility
company Metro Pacific Investments Corp MPI.PS was contracted
to upgrade and expand the LRT Line 1 in 2014.
In a separate story, the daily quoted https://www.manilatimes.net/2020/01/20/news/top-stories/palace-isnt-done-with-ayala-targets-technohub/675908
a palace spokesperson as saying the Ayala Technohub, an Ayala
Land ALI.PS IT park project, might also be subjected to an
investigation.
Ayala Land, Ayala Corp and Metro Pacific Investments Corp
fell between 5.6% and 6%.
"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.
Most other Southeast Asian stock markets edged lower in
low-trade volumes.
"Ahead of the Chinese New Year, as well as it being a U.S.
holiday today, trading volumes are quite low in the region,"
said Nicholas Yon, an equity research analyst at Singapore-based
Lim & Tan securities.
Thai shares .SETI fell, hurt most by losses in banking
stocks.
Heavyweight Siam Commercial Bank SCB.BK dropped as much as
12.8% in its worst intraday trading in over 11 years, after it
reported lower quarterly net interest income and attributable
profit on Friday. Singapore stocks .STI declined slightly, weighed down by
losses in financials.
United Overseas Bank UOBH.SI was 0.6% lower, while real
estate developer CapitaLand Ltd CATL.SI fell 0.8%.
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SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS AS AT 0350 GMT
STOCK MARKETS
Change on the day
Market Current Previous close Pct Move
Singapore 3274.15 3281.03 -0.21
Bangkok 1593.88 1600.48 -0.41
Manila 7578.85 7722.58 -1.86
Jakarta 6280.846 6291.657 -0.17
Kuala Lumpur 1594.41 1595.81 -0.09
Ho Chi Minh 976.06 978.96 -0.30
Change so far in
2020
Market Current End 2019 Pct Move
Singapore 3274.15 3222.83 1.59
Bangkok 1593.88 1579.84 0.89
Manila 7578.85 7,815.26 -3.02
Jakarta 6280.846 6,299.54 -0.30
Kuala Lumpur 1594.41 1588.76 0.36
Ho Chi Minh 976.06 960.99 1.57