Philippine shares declined on Friday on fears that trade tensions between China and the United States could balloon into a deeper strategic dispute, while Indonesian stocks posted their biggest weekly gain since July 2018. US President Donald Trump said on Thursday Washington's complaints against Huawei Technologies might be resolved within the framework of a US-China trade deal, while calling the Chinese telecom giant "very dangerous".
Earlier on Thursday, China hit back with its spokesperson saying "if the United States wants to continue trade talks, they should show sincerity and correct their wrong actions." Philippine shares closed down 0.7%, hurt by real estate stocks, but gained more than 2% this week. Index heavyweights SM Prime Holdings Inc and Ayala Land Inc fell 1.5% and 1.7%, respectively.
The market's weakness had more to do with investor sentiment rather than the actual economic impact of the Sino-US trade war, which is too early to tell at this point, said Charles William Ang, deputy head of research at COL Financial. Vietnam shares declined 1.3% on the day and fell 0.7% this week. Real estate stocks were the main drag, with Vinhomes JSC slipping 2.3% and Vingroup JSC falling 1.7%.
Malaysian shares ended 0.2% lower and posted a fourth straight weekly fall.
Data released early Friday showed that the consumer price index rose 0.2% in April from a year earlier, matching the pace in March, but coming below the 0.4% Reuters poll estimate.
Indonesian stocks rose 0.4%, boosted by the communication and financial sectors. They added 4% this week, ending four consecutive weekly declines.
PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia and PT Bank Mandiri advanced 2.5% and 1.7%, respectively.
Meanwhile, Singapore stocks rose as the country's industrial production unexpectedly grew 0.1% from a year earlier in April, beating forecasts of a 3.5% contraction. Singapore Telecommunica-tions Ltd added 1%, while Hongkong Land Holdings Ltd gained 1.5%.
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