Most Southeast Asian stock markets ended lower on Friday tracking broader Asia, led by the Philippines, which fell for the seventh consecutive session, erasing some of its earlier losses in the latter half of the day. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's ongoing rants against the United States have weighed on investor sentiment for more than a week, with the Philippine index posting a weekly loss of 3.2 percent.
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 US 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 fell as much as 1.7 percent earlier and closed 0.5 percent lower, dragged down by financials and consumer cyclicals, with conglomerates SM Prime Holdings Inc and SM Investments Corp losing 0.7 percent and 1.2 percent respectively. Philippine stock markets will be closed on Monday and Tuesday for special non-working holidays.
"Lot of investors are closing positions ahead of the long weekend," Felix said. The Singapore index lost 0.5 percent on the day and the week. DBS Group Holdings Ltd was the biggest decliner in the financial sector, just ahead of its third-quarter results, due next week.
Thai shares closed 0.3 percent lower, pulled down by the energy sector, with the country's top energy firm PTT PCL closing 0.6 percent lower, on weak oil prices. The index lost 0.5 percent this week. Indonesia closed 0.1 percent lower, but Vietnam ended with a gain of 0.8 percent.
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