Asean markets cautious after Fed minutes; Philippines, Indonesia up

Asean markets to trail behind the East Asian markets

SINGAPORE: Southeast Asian markets trod with caution on Thursday after minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's last meeting showed policymakers were split on the outlook for inflation and how it might affect the future pace of interestrate rises.

The minutes of the Fed's June policy meeting released on Wednesday also showed that several officials wanted to announce a start to the process of reducing the Fed's large portfolio of Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities by the end of
August but others wanted to wait until later in the year.

"The key parts of the markets are still reluctant to move forward as the minutes of the Fed meet show that even the committee itself is still mixed about the proper measures to reduce the balance sheet of the U.S. Federal Reserve," said Rakpong Chaisuparakul, a strategist with KGI Securities Thailand.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan  was little changed on Thursday.

Risk sentiment in Asia took a hit this week due to tensions on the Korean peninsula after North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile into Japanese waters, causing the U.S. to warn that it was ready to use force if need be to
stop the missile program.

In Southeast Asia, Philippine shares gained 0.5 percent aided by industrial and financial stocks.

International Container Terminal Services Inc was up as much as 1.3 percent while Ayala Corp gained as much as 1.5 percent to touch its highest in three weeks.
    
Indonesian shares rose 0.4 percent, on the back of gains in financials and consumer staples.
    
PT Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero) Tbk and Bank Mandiri (Persero) Tbk PT were up as much as 0.8 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively.
    
Vietnam shares gained 0.2 percent, bolstered by consumer staples and financial stocks.
    
Vietnam Dairy Products JSC rose as much as 1 percent to hit a record high while Vietcombank climbed 0.9 percent.
    
On the other end, Singapore shares slipped 0.3 percent, with financial stocks leading the losses.
    
Thailand dropped 0.3 percent hurt by energy stocks.
    
Oil prices tumbled about 4 percent on Wednesday on rising exports by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), but inched higher on Thursday on strong demand in the United States. - Reuters