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SE Asia Stocks-Most fall on weak China trade data, global growth woes

* Vietnam on track to post 0.9 pct weekly gain

* Philippines set to snap two straight sessions of gains

By Shriya Ramakrishnan

March 8 (Reuters) - Most Southeast Asian stock markets

slipped on Friday in line with broader Asia, as investors were

rattled by a cooling global economy after the European Central

Bank slashed its growth forecasts and dismal trade data from

China.

ECB President Mario Draghi on Thursday cautioned of a period

of "continued weakness and pervasive uncertainty" while lowering

the bank's growth and inflation forecasts, and offered banks a

new round of cheap loans to help revive the euro zone economy.

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Data from China - the region's largest trading partner

showed that the country's February dollar-denominated exports

fell 20.7 percent from a year earlier, far worse than analysts'

expectations, while imports dropped 5.2 percent.

The ECB comments and China data sent broader Asian shares to

a two-week low, with Asia ex-Japan falling 1.1

percent.

Singapore shares were among the worst performers in

the region, shedding 0.7 percent with broad-based losses.

DBS Group Holdings, the country's largest lender

lost 0.8 percent, while industrial conglomerate Jardine Matheson

Holdings Ltd fell 1.1 percent.

The Singapore benchmark index was on track to post a weekly

loss of 0.4 percent.

The Jakarta SE Composite Index, which resumed

trading after a holiday fell 0.8 percent, with consumer and

material sectors taking the biggest hit.

Shares of cement maker Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa

traded 2 percent lower, while conglomerate Astra International

weakened 1.7 percent.

Vietnam stocks were on track to extend losses for a

second session, with all sectors in the red.

The Vietnam index, which has been the region's best

performer since the turn of year was poised to record a gain of

0.9 percent for the week.

Philippine shares were set to snap two sessions of

gains, dragged down by financial stocks. Bank of the Philippine

Islands and BDO Unibank Inc were down 1.5 and

0.5 percent, respectively.

The newly-appointed Philippines central bank governor

Benjamin Diokno said there was room to ease monetary policy in

the country given a cooling inflation, but the timing of any

such action would depend on how the economy fares.

He said there was an opportunity to further reduce banks'

reserve requirement ratio, which he said was still too high.

For Asian Companies click;

SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS AS AT 0335 GMT

Market Current Previous close Pct Move

Singapore 3206.73 3229.48 -0.70

Bangkok 1637.11 1633.21 0.24

Manila 7852.04 7881.79 -0.38

Jakarta 6409.956 6457.956 -0.74

Kuala Lumpur 1682.27 1686.95 -0.28

Ho Chi Minh 990.04 994.03 -0.40

Change so far in 2019

Market Current End 2018 Pct Move

Singapore 3206.73 3068.76 4.50

Bangkok 1637.11 1563.88 4.68

Manila 7852.04 7,466.02 5.17

Jakarta 6409.956 6,194.50 3.48

Kuala Lumpur 1682.27 1690.58 -0.49

Ho Chi Minh 990.04 892.54 10.92

(Reporting by Shriya Ramakrishnan in Bengaluru; Editing by

Gopakumar Warrier)