Southeast Asian stock markets ended lower on Tuesday tracking broader Asian peers, which took a hit from various negative drivers ranging from Saudi Arabia's diplomatic isolation, Brexit talks to renewed worries about trade war friction.
An already jittery market was hit by growing political uncertainty around the world, coupled with nervousness over the upcoming US corporate earnings season, with MSCI's broadest index of Asian shares ex-Japan sliding 2.2%.
Singapore's stocks ended 1.5% lower, after industrial and real estate shares took the brunt of the sell-off as a risk-off sentiment prevailed.
"Monday's rally in Chinese stocks has fizzled out. I think this has led investors to take chips off the table as sentiment generally remains weak," said Liu Jinshu, director of research, NRA Capital.
The city-state's core inflation gauge in September missed forecasts to edge down slightly to 1.8% from a year earlier due to lower retail inflation, data showed on Tuesday.
Vietnamese shares led the declines in the regional markets, ending 3.9% weaker to their lowest in nearly three months.
Shares of Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam ended 2.3% lower, while Vietnam Technological And Commercial Joint Stock Bank closed 3.5% down.
Malaysian stocks posted a fourth straight session of declines, with investment holding giant Sime Darby Bhd ending 5.7% weaker and lender CIMB Group Holdings Bhd closing 3.9% lower.
"Investors are cautious, essentially awaiting budget 2019 to be announced in November. They're still anticipating new taxes to be announced. There isn't much of a catalyst at this point, so investors are likely to stay low until the budget is released," a Kuala Lumpur-based local analyst said.
Philippine stocks snapped five straight sessions of gains to end lower. The index was dented by losses in real estate shares, with sector heavyweight SM Prime Holdings Inc closing 2.6% weaker and Ayala Land Inc ending 1.3% lower.
Indonesian shares ended weaker on the back of telecom and banking stocks, with PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk being the biggest drag on the index.
Indonesia's central bank warned that third-quarter economic growth in Southeast Asia's largest economy may not be as strong as initially expected, with export growth weakening due to unfavourable prices of commodities such as palm oil and coal.