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5 years ago

Southeast Asian stocks tread water; Indonesia gains

File Photo (Collected)
File Photo (Collected)

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Most Southeast Asian stock markets treaded water on Thursday while Indonesian shares gained, clawing back some of the previous session's losses.

Broader Asian shares ticked up slightly, drawing confidence from overnight gains on Wall Street after a selloff earlier this week in technology heavyweights.

However, tensions over Sino-US trade ahead of a high-stakes meeting this month between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping kept investor sentiment fragile in Asia, reports Reuters.

Indonesian shares gained 0.6 per cent, after two losing sessions, led by financials and consumer staples.

Indonesia's central bank on Nov.15 unexpectedly raised its benchmark interest rate for the sixth time this year, as policymakers struggle to reduce imports and lower the country's current-account deficit.

Thai shares also edged higher, propped up by gains in energy and consumer stocks.

Demand for energy stocks was boosted by an overnight recovery in oil prices.

Gas and petroleum supplier PTT PCL and convenience stores operator CP All PCL climbed marginally.

Singapore shares were little changed after the city-state's third-quarter GDP data showed economic growth was slower than expected.

Conglomerate Jardine Matheson Holdings Ltd gained as much as 2.8 per cent, while Wilmar International Ltd slipped 1.6 per cent.

The government also flagged further moderation in the current quarter and warned that the US-Sino trade war will hurt growth in 2019.

Philippines shares inched lower, as industrials and real estate stocks such as SM Prime Holdings and SM Investment posted losses.

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