Most Southeast Asian stock markets closed lower on Tuesday as capital flight worries weighed on investor sentiment after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's upbeat view of the US jobs market strengthened the case for more rate increases next year. Yellen said on Monday that the US labour market had improved to its strongest in nearly a decade, suggesting that wage growth was picking up.
Data on Thursday, including the third estimate of third-quarter gross domestic product and personal income and spending, will next be watched for further indications about the strength of the US economy. "There is movement of capital out of emerging markets back into America, causing currencies to depreciate versus the dollar, which in turn makes more assets move out," said Joseph Roxas, president of Manila-based Eagle Equities Inc.
The dollar bounced back towards 14-year highs on Tuesday, boosted by Yellen's comments. Philippine shares closed 0.8 percent lower, falling for a fourth straight session, led by industrials and telecom stocks.
"Philippines shouldn't be hit so hard because our economy is performing much better than the others... but we're in the same basket labelled emerging markets," Roxas said. Conglomerate SM Investments Corp dropped 2 percent, while telecom services provider PLDT Inc fell 3.7 percent. Vietnam shares closed 1.7 percent lower, dragged down by consumer staples.
Recently-listed Saigon Beer Alcohol Beverage Corp fell 7 percent. The stock jumped 39.3 percent last week. Vietnam Dairy Products JSC closed 3.3 percent lower at a more than 5-month low. Indonesian shares extended losses for a sixth straight session to hit their lowest in three weeks. Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Persero) Tbk PT and Astra International Tbk PT were among the worst performers. In Asia, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.27 percent as of 0948 GMT.