SE Asia Stocks-Philippines slides as Duterte's rants dampen sentiment

By Sandhya Sampath

Oct 28 (Reuters) - Most Southeast Asian stock markets were

lower on Friday, in line with broader Asia, led by Philippines

which posted declines for the seventh session in a row as

President Rodrigo Duterte's ongoing rants against the United

States dampened sentiment.

Duterte said on Thursday that his country could join naval

exercises with Japan, but repeated there would be no more war

games with long-time ally United States, and again vented his

anger against Washington.

Investors continue to be cautious about Duterte's foreign

policy after weeks of verbal attacks on the United States,

including threats to end military agreements, and his apparent

overtures towards China.

"The President has been going on a lot of business trips

which is adding on to the investor confidence. But his negative

comments against the U.S. adds to the political noise. Maybe

that is also spurring net foreign selling in our market," said

Victor Felix, an analyst with Manila-based AB Capital

Securities.

Philippine shares declined as much as 1.4 percent,

dragged down by financials and consumer staples, with

conglomerates SM Investments Corp and JG Summit Holdings

Inc losing as much as 1.3 percent and 3.4 percent

respectively.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan

slid 0.3 percent.

"Most Asian markets have been slipping today. Oil prices

have been losing momentum. There is no actionable news from OPEC

on whether or not they will have a production cut," Felix added.

Oil prices, though steady, were on track for a weekly loss

of more than 2 percent.

The Singapore Index slipped as much as 0.6 percent to

a near two-week low. DBS Group Holdings Ltd was the

biggest decliner on the financial sector, just ahead of its

third-quarter results, scheduled for next week.

Thai shares dipped as much as 0.3 percent, pulled

down by the energy sector, with gas and petroleum company PTT

PCL falling as much as 1.1 percent.

Indonesia lost as much as 0.2 percent. Bucking the

trend, Vietnam posted a gain of 0.4 percent.

Philippines will be closed on Monday for a special

non-working holiday.

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SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS

Change at 0514 GMT

Market Current Previous Close Pct Move

Singapore 2814.8 2867.21 -1.83

Bangkok 1496.99 1498.36 -0.09

Manila 7338.58 7445.14 -1.43

Jakarta 5412.858 5416.836 -0.07

Kuala Lumpur 1669.85 1669.03 0.05

Ho Chi Minh 679.3 676.9 0.35

Change so far this

year

Market Current End prev yr Pct Move

Singapore 2814.8 2882.73 -2.36

Bangkok 1496.99 1288.02 16.22

Manila 7338.58 6952.08 5.56

Jakarta 5412.858 4593.008 17.85

Kuala Lumpur 1669.85 1692.51 -1.34

Ho Chi Minh 679.3 579.03 17.32

(Reporting by Sandhya Sampath in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry

Jacob-Phillips)