Jollibee Foods : Most Southeast Asian stocks gain on revival of trade hopes; Philippines dips on profit-taking

(Reuters) - Philippine shares slipped on Wednesday on profit-booking after a recent rally in financials, while most other Southeast Asian stock markets posted modest gains as reports of headway in the protracted Sino-U.S. trade negotiations hoisted risk sentiment.

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow on Tuesday called it a good sign that top U.S. officials would be travelling to China to discuss reviving stalled trade talks, and said he expected Beijing to start buying U.S. agriculture products soon.

Sentiment was also lifted by the upcoming crucial central bank meetings, where the European Central Bank is expected to at least offer a nod to easier policy on Thursday, whereas a quarter-point cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve is all but confirmed.

"Asia equity markets are feasting on the positive after-effects from better-than-expected U.S. earnings and the constructive vibe around the resumption of trade talks, while the dovish central bank scrim is providing the icing on the cake," Stephen Innes, Managing Partner at VanguardMarkets.com said.

Singapore shares <.STI>, which are among the most vulnerable to trade war developments in the region, extended gains to edge up 0.2%.

The city-state also received a boost from prospects of an easing monetary policy by its central bank after June's inflation data came in at a more than two-year low.

Shares of palm oil producer Golden-Agri Resources Ltd scaled 3.5%, while Hutchison Port Holdings Trust rose 2.3%.

Vietnam's benchmark index <.VNI> extended gains to its highest in more than three months, underpinned by financials.

Malaysian stocks <.KLSE> were largely unchanged, while government data showed June consumer prices rose at their fastest pace in more than a year.

Meanwhile, Philippine stocks <.PSI> shed 0.4%, with financial stocks dragging the benchmark index lower.

With the country's top three banks being the biggest laggards in the index, Miguel Ong, a research analyst with AP Securities said it could be more of profit-taking as financial stocks led the sector rally in the last couple of sessions.

Bank of the Philippine Islands and biggest lender by market value BDO Unibank Inc slipped 1.7% and 1.8%, respectively, while Jollibee Foods Inc dropped 2.4%.

Sentiment towards Jollibee stock was wavering as the Asian fast-food giant is "expected to perform weakly in the second quarter, especially the operations of Smashburger - the business they invested on and acquired is expected to be a drag," Ong added.

(Reporting by Anushka Trivedi in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Soumyajit Saha, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

By Anushka Trivedi