* Asia-Pacific shares ex-Japan down about 1 pct
* Indonesian shares drop 1 pct
* Singapore falls after 3 sessions of gains
By Sumeet Gaikwad
Sept 17 (Reuters) - Most Southeast Asian stock markets fell
on Monday as reports of potential new U.S. tariffs on Chinese
imports heightened investor worries over a protracted trade
battle between the two countries.
U.S. President Donald Trump is likely to announce new
tariffs on about $200 billion on Chinese imports as early as
Monday, a senior administration official told Reuters on
Saturday.
Trump's plan comes at a time when his Treasury Secretary
Steven Mnuchin attempts to restart trade talks with another
bilateral meeting this month.
"This good cop bad cop routine continues to undermine
Mnuchin's efforts as its still not clear if anyone other than
Trump himself is commissioned to cut a deal. And not too
unexpectedly and quite ominously China could cancel the
meeting," said Stephen Innes, head of trading, APAC, at Oanda.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
fell over 1 percent after three straight
sessions of gains.
Indonesian shares dropped about 1 percent, weighed
down by consumer staples and financial stocks, ahead of the
monthly trade balance data.
The country's trade balance is expected to stay in the red
in August although the size of the deficit may have narrowed, a
Reuters poll showed on Friday.
Consumer products maker Unilever Indonesia fell
1.8 percent, while Bank Mandiri was down over 3
percent.
The index of the country's 45 most liquid stocks
was down about 1.6 percent.
Singapore shares dropped after three sessions of
gains, with conglomerate Jardine Matheson Holdings Ltd
down nearly 1 percent and lender United Overseas Bank
falling 1.2 percent.
Singapore's on-year non-oil domestic exports (NODX) growth
slowed sharply in August as sales of pharmaceuticals came off
the sizzling pace of the month before, official data showed on
Monday.
Philippine index was largely unchanged as losses in
financials and telecom stocks offset gains in real estate
stocks.
Malaysian financial markets were shut for a holiday.
For Asian Companies click;
SOUTHEAST ASIAN STOCK MARKETS: AS AT 0348GMT
Market Current Previous Close Pct Move
Singapore 3139.71 3161.42 -0.69
Bangkok 1719.1 1722.21 -0.18
Manila 7419.18 7413.15 0.08
Jakarta 5866.387 5931.281 -1.09
Ho Chi Minh 990.32 991.34 -0.10
Change on year
Market Current End 2017 Pct Move
Singapore 3139.71 3402.92 -7.73
Bangkok 1719.1 1753.71 -1.97
Manila 7419.18 8558.42 -13.31
Jakarta 5866.387 6355.654 -7.70
Ho Chi Minh 990.32 984.24 0.62
(Reporting by Sumeet Gaikwad in Bengaluru; Editing by Amrutha
Gayathri)
