South East Asian shares were mostly lacklustre on Monday with the Philippines and Singapore indexes posting moderate gains, ahead of a US-North Korea summit that could pave the way for easing tensions on the Korean peninsula.
On Monday, US President Donald Trump said the summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday, in Singapore, could "work out very nicely" as officials from both countries met to narrow their differences. The summit will be the first ever face-to-face meeting by leaders of the two countries that have been enemies since the 1950-1953 Korean War.
Investors also started to focus on key central bank meetings slated for the week. Meanwhile, over the weekend at the Group of Seven summit, Donald Trump took aim at Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau saying he might double down on import tariffs on the sensitive auto industry, while Trudeau said Canada could retaliate next month.
Philippine shares edged up 0.4 percent with SM Investments Corp gaining 1.1 percent and JG Summit Holdings Inc up 2.8 percent.
Singapore shares rose 0.2 percent led by gains in financials shares as DBS Group ended 0.5 percent higher. Vietnam shares ended flat, after seven sessions of gains, with Vietnam Dairy Products JSC up 1.8 percent and Vietjet Aviation JSC climbing 2.8 percent. Malaysian shares ended 0.1 percent lower, weighed down by financials such as Public Bank and CIMB Group.
Earlier in the day, government data showed the country's industrial output rose 4.6 in April from a year earlier, up from the previous month, and above the 3.7 percent annual rise forecast in a Reuters poll. Indonesian financial markets are closed from June 11 to June 19 for Eidul-Fitr, while the Philippines will be closed on Tuesday for Independence Day.
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