Southeast Asian stock markets declined on Friday as the trade war between the United States and China snowballed into a deeper strategic issue, while Indonesia was on track to snap four weeks of declines.
The Manila index fell up to 1.8 per cent, dragged by industrial and real estate stocks, but was poised to gain 1.6 per cent for the week.
Conglomerate SM Investments Corp lost 2.4 per cent, while property developer Ayala Land Inc dropped 2.3 per cent, reports Reuters.
Meanwhile, Singapore stocks traded marginally lower ahead of the country's April manufacturing output figures due later in the day. The index was set to fall 1.6 per cent this week, its third straight weekly loss.
Economic data from the island, released earlier in the week, showed Singapore's first-quarter annual economic growth contract to the lowest in nearly a decade, as manufacturing contracted in the wake of the bitter Sino-US spat.
The Thai bourse slipped 0.7 per cent and was likely to decline for a third consecutive week. Energy stocks dragged the index as oil prices plunged overnight on dampened demand outlook due to the ongoing trade tension.
Oil & gas firms PTT Exploration and Production PCL and PTT PCL declined 4.6 per cent and 1.6 per cent, respectively.
Indonesian stocks, however, advanced as much as 0.6 per cent and the market was expected to rise 3.8 per cent for the week as it snaps four straight weeks of losses.
Malaysian equities rose on Friday as consumer price index in April rose 0.2 per cent from a year earlier, matching the pace in March, but was below a 0.4 per cent estimate in a Reuters poll.
Earlier this month, the country's central bank cut its key interest rate for the first time since 2016, amid weak inflation and concerns over slowing economic growth.
