Southeast Asian stock markets ended lower on Friday, with Indonesia falling the most, as risky assets lost their sheen after the European Central Bank (ECB) unexpectedly left interest rates unchanged.
ECB on Thursday supported the view of needing economic stimulus but did not deliver the 10 basis point cut that was widely anticipated, with focus now shifting to the US Federal Reserve which is set to review its monetary policy next week.
Indonesian shares were the biggest decliners in Southeast Asia, as they fell 1.2% to their lowest in a month on weakness in consumer stocks. PT Charoen Pokphand Indonesia Tbk and cigarette maker PT Gudang Garam Tbk shed 3.8% and 1.8%, respectively.
"Heavy foreign outflow contributed to the downfall today, particularly from big-cap stocks, partly caused by expectation of a less aggressive Fed after the ECB held rates", said Anugerah Zamzami Nasr, equity research analyst at PT Phillip Sekuritas Indonesia.
Adding to the gloom were Chinese media reports about local authorities suspecting that FedEx Corp illegally withheld Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
packages, a move that risks spiking further tensions in the protracted Sino-US trade war.
"With geopolitical tensions mounting across the region and export markets floundering unless there's a positive surprise from next week's US-China trade meeting, its challenging to support a bullish view" said Stephen Innes, Managing Partner at VanguardMarkets.com.
Meanwhile, Philippine stocks snapped three consecutive weekly gains as industrial stocks weighed on the benchmark.
Singapore's main index fell 0.5%, with Singapore Telecommunications Ltd tugging it lower as the stock traded ex-dividend.
Also hurting the sentiment was the its factory output which slipped to a near four-year low in June, hit by a slowdown in the electronics sector, though the data was slightly better-than-expected.
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