SE Asian stocks slip as Sino-US relation strains ahead of trade talks


FE Team | Published: January 29, 2019 12:08:39 | Updated: January 31, 2019 12:02:38


File Photo (Collected)

Southeast Asian stocks fell on Tuesday after the United States charged China's Huawei with bank fraud and for conspiring to steal trade secrets, denting hopes of a trade deal days before the trade talks.

Broader Asian shares felt the heat of recent developments as the MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.5 per cent.

Investors nervously await resolution to US-China trade spat as Chinese Vice Premier Liu He visits Washington on Jan. 30-31 for a fresh round of talks, reports Reuters.

Singapore and Vietnam, both technology exporters, were also under pressure after warnings from US manufacturers Caterpillar Inc and Nvidia Corp about softening Chinese demand.

Singapore shares fell as much as 0.7 per cent, with a bulk of losses coming from the technology sector, after Nvidia Corp on Monday cut its fourth-quarter revenue estimate on weak demand for its gaming chips in China and lower-than-expected data centre sales.

Venture Corp slipped as much as 1.3 per cent, while Singapore Technologies Engineering lost as much as 1.0 per cent.

Vietnam shares were on track to snap four straight days of gains, losing as much as 0.5 per cent.

Petrovietnam Gas Joint Stock Corp and Saigon Beer Alcohol Beverage were the biggest drags, falling as much as 1.5 per cent and 0.8 per cent, respectively.

Thai shares slipped as much as 0.3 per cent on broad-based losses.

Data on Tuesday showed the country's manufacturing production index (MPI) in December rose 0.75 per cent from a year earlier, but missed analyst expectations.

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