Philippine shares closed 1.3 percent lower on Monday as investors booked profits after three straight sessions of gains on strong quarterly GDP data and September remittances. "It is more of profit-taking as there is a lot of selling pressure from foreign investors," said Manny Cruz, an analyst with Manila-based Asiasec Equities Inc.
Financials and energy stocks led the decline with property developer SM Prime Holdings losing 1.6 percent and Petron Corp shedding over 3 percent. Sentiment was also hit by continued fears that a rally in the dollar and US bond yields following Donald Trump's victory could accelerate fund outflows from emerging markets. "The dollar continues to move higher today and that has triggered some selling in the Asian markets," said Cruz.
The dollar held near 13-1/2-year highs against a currency basket in Asian trading. Under Trump's reflationary policies, the Federal Reserve also might have to raise interest rates faster than expected to curtail inflation, making US-dollar based assets more attractive at the expense of emerging nations.
Singapore shares close down 0.8 percent with the industrials and consumer goods sectors among the losers. Singapore's economy is expected to have contracted at a less steep pace in the July-September quarter than first estimated, but the city state remains at risk of a recession due to weak exports and uncertainty around global trade after Trump's US election win.
The city-state's GDP data is scheduled to be out on November 24. Indonesian shares posted their second straight session of falls, led by telecom and financial stocks. Thailand ended 0.3 percent higher, its second straight session of gains, with industrials and consumer stocks pulling up the index.