SINAGPORE: Southeast Asian stocks traded cautiously on Monday with rising geopolitical worries souring investor sentiment, but the Phillipines eked out gains led by financial and real estate stocks.

Broader Asian stocks slipped, with MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan falling for a third session.

“There is a bit of risk-off sentiment after last week’s US air strike in Syria and the news saying that the US military is sending an aircraft carrier group near the Korean peninsula,” said Victor Felix, an equity analyst with AB Capital Securities.

After the United States launched missile strikes on a Syrian air base alleged to have launched a deadly poison gas attack on Syrian civilians, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned that the strikes were a warning to other nations, including North Korea.

A US Navy strike group will be moving toward the western Pacific Ocean near the Korean peninsula as a show of force, a US official told Reuters on Saturday, as concerns grow about North Korea’s advancing weapons programme.

Phillipine shares closed 0.5 percent higher with foreign investors buying stocks worth a net 466.7 million pesos.

“We were really expecting the market to trade more inactively given the long holidays. Somehow, there continues to be some buying from investors given the recent spate of positive news reflecting the fundamentals of the market,” said Astro del Castillo, managing director of First Grade Finance.

GT Capital Holdings rose 4.4 percent, while SM Prime Holdings finished 1.3 percent higher. Indonesian shares closed slightly down, with index of the region’s 45 most liquid stocks closing 0.3 percent lower.

Financials were the biggest losers, with Bank Mandiri (Persero) Tbk Pt shedding 1.2 percent. Thailand and Malaysia declined marginally, while Vietnam closed 0.3 percent higher.—Reuters