Vietnam shares jumped 2.5 percent on Tuesday, bouncing back from the previous session's sharp drop, while Singapore stocks snapped five straight sessions of declines and closed 1.6 percent higher. Asian shares also regained ground after US President Donald Trump faced growing pressure from political allies to pull back from proposed steel and aluminium tariffs, easing investor worries about an imminent trade war.
In Vietnam, real estate company Vingroup JSC led the gains, rising 4.8 percent, while Joint Stock Commercial Bank for foreign trade of Viet Nam climbed 4.7 percent. Lenders led the rise in Singapore with United Overseas Bank and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp gaining more than 2 percent each.
Philippine stocks slipped 0.3 percent, extending their falls into a fifth session after data showed that inflation in February was higher than the central bank's target. This might prompt the central bank to raise interest rates at its March meeting, or at least in the near future, said Manny Cruz, an analyst at Manila-based Asiasec Equities Inc.
Losers were led by real estate company Ayala Land with a drop of 1.1 percent, while food and beverage company Universal Robina Corp dropped 2.1 percent. Foreign investors net sold 737.2 million pesos ($14.18 million) worth of shares on Tuesday.
Foreigners turned net sellers of Asian equities in February, with outflows hitting their highest in more than two years, amid an increase in market volatility as well as a rise in US Treasury yields. Indonesian shares closed 0.8 percent lower after rising as much as 0.6 percent earlier. Consumer stocks were among the top losers with Unilever Indonesia shedding 2.7 percent and Bank Negara Indonesia declining 3.9 percent.
An index of the nation's 45 most liquid stocks was down more than 1 percent. Thai shares dropped for a fifth consecutive session amid sharp selling in the afternoon session. Energy stocks led the losers with Energy Absolute shedding 15.9 percent.
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