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SE Asia Stocks-Philippines at lowest close in 3 mths on real estate, infra stocks

* Ayala Land, Ayala Corp, Metro Pacific drag down Philippines * Protest against new bills hurts risk sentiment in Indonesia * Siam Commercial drops to lowest close in over 8 years By Soumyajit Saha Jan 20 (Reuters) - Philippine stocks dropped over 2% to their lowest close in over three months, hurt by losses in the real estate and infrastructure sectors, while banking shares dragged down the Thai index. Heavyweight real estate developer Ayala Land, conglomerate Ayala Corp and utilities company Metro Pacific Investments Corp fell between 5.4% and 7%, after increased government scrutiny on certain projects. Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte on Friday said he would be reviewing the Manila Light Rail Transit contract, part of which is with a consortium of Ayala Corp and Metro Pacific Investments, the Manila Times reported https://www.manilatimes.net/2020/01/19/news/headlines/duterte-to-review-lrt-contract-next/675652 on Sunday. According to a separate Manila Times story https://www.manilatimes.net/2020/01/20/news/top-stories/palace-isnt-done-with-ayala-targets-technohub/675908, the Presidential spokesperson on Sunday said the Ayala Technohub, an Ayala Land IT park project, might be subjected to an investigation. "It looks like the purported review of the two contracts could be exerting pressure on the two entities (Ayala group and Metro Pacific Investments)" Charles William Ang, associate analyst at COL Financial Group said. Losses in the banking sector dragged Thai shares down. Lender Siam Commercial Bank dropped 12.8% to its lowest close in over 8 years, on reporting lower quarterly net interest income and attributable profit on Friday. Indonesian stocks declined, as losses in the consumer and banking sectors weighed on the index. Cigarette maker Hanjaya Mandala Sampoerna was down 2.2%, while lender Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero) gave up 2.9%. An index of Indonesia's 45 most liquid stocks was down 0.7%. Protests by several thousand Indonesian workers against the so-called "omnibus" bills, covering 79 laws and meant to replace dozens of overlapping laws seen as obstacles to investment, soured market sentiment. "We think that investors are re-calibrating their excitement of the omnibus law acting as a key catalyst for the nation's growth," said Taye Shim, head of research at Mirae Asset Sekuritas. For Asian Companies click; SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS STOCK MARKETS Change on the day Market Current Previous Pct Move close Singapore 3280.09 3281.03 -0.03 Bangkok 1589.11 1600.48 -0.71 Manila 7552.6 7722.58 -2.20 Jakarta 6245.043 6291.657 -0.74 Kuala Lumpur 1588.88 1595.81 -0.43 Ho Chi Minh 978.63 978.96 -0.03 Change so far in 2020 Market Current End 2019 Pct Move Singapore 3280.09 3222.83 1.78 Bangkok 1589.11 1579.84 0.59 Manila 7552.6 7,815.26 -3.36 Jakarta 6245.043 6,299.54 -0.87 Kuala Lumpur 1588.88 1588.76 0.01 Ho Chi Minh 978.63 960.99 1.84 (Reporting by Soumyajit Saha in Bengaluru)