* China Sept factory gate prices contract for third straight
month
* Indonesia edges higher after release of trade data
* Philippine cenbank reduces RRR for bonds
By Sameer Manekar
Oct 15 (Reuters) - Most Southeast Asian stock markets traded
in a flat-to-lower range on Tuesday as hopes of a Sino-U.S.
trade deal subsided after Beijing indicated further talks were
needed, while figures from China underlined the damage felt due
to trade pressures.
Bloomberg on Monday reported that China wants more talks to
hammer out details of the "phase one" trade deal outlined by
U.S. President Donald Trump, adding that Beijing may send a
delegation led by Chinese Vice Premier Liu He to finalise a
written deal.
Traders cautioned that sentiment is fragile as the
U.S.-China trade war remains a risk to global growth.
"The interpretations of what constitutes the trade deal ...
is different from both sides. China still wants to talk and the
U.S. thinks they had a deal on Friday," Jeffrey Halley, senior
market analyst, Asia Pacific at OANDA said.
"There has not been a single detail published on the deal."
Meanwhile, denting market sentiment further was data, which
showed that factory gate prices in China, the biggest trading
partner of Southeast Asia, contracted for the third straight
month in September, weighed by slowing demand and a long
drawn-out trade war with the United States. Leading declines in the region, Philippine stocks .PSI
marked their worst session in a week, and were on track to snap
a three-day winning streak.
Consumer and financial stocks were the biggest drags, with
index heavyweights SM Investments Corp SM.PS and SM Prime
Holdings SMPH.PS down between 0.5% and 1.5% respectively.
The Philippine central bank on Tuesday reduced the reserve
requirement ratio for bonds issued by banks and quasi-banks to
3% from 6%, as it aims to increase domestic liquidity to support
credit growth and the economy. Indonesian stocks .JKSE edged higher after data showed
that exports from Southeast Asia's largest economy declined
5.74% on a yearly basis in September, but the figures came in
better than Reuters' expectations of 5.84% decline.
Financials accounted for majority of the losses in the
index, with PT Central Bank Asia BBCA.JK and PT Bank Mandiri
(Persero) Tbk BMRI.JK declining 0.7% and 1.1% each.
Vietnam stocks .VNI dipped 0.2%, dragged by real estate
and utilities sectors.
Vietnam Dairy Products JSC VNM.HM and Vinhomes JSC
VHM.HM declined 0.5% and 2.2%, respectively.
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SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS
Change on the day
Market Current Previous close Pct Move
Singapore 3123.15 3124.45 -0.04
Bangkok 1626.04 1626 0.00
Manila 7841.67 7884.29 -0.54
Jakarta 6132.517 6126.877 0.09
Kuala Lumpur 1565.36 1567.59 -0.14
Ho Chi Minh 991.78 993.57 -0.18
Change so far in 2019
Market Current End 2018 Pct Move
Singapore 3123.15 3068.76 1.77
Bangkok 1626.04 1563.88 3.97
Manila 7841.67 7,466.02 5.03
Jakarta 6132.517 6,194.50 -1.00
Kuala Lumpur 1565.36 1690.58 -7.41
Ho Chi Minh 991.78 892.54 11.12