Southeast Asian stock markets rose on Monday, in line with broader Asia, after US President Donald Trump said he would delay a planned tariff hike on Chinese goods following "productive" trade negotiations. Trump tweeted on Sunday that he would push back the March 1 deadline for a scheduled hike in tariffs on Chinese imports, and said he looked forward to a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping to secure a deal if progress in talks continued.
Broader Asian markets inched higher, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan hitting its highest since October. Thai stocks hit a more than two-month high in broad-based gains and were the top performers in Southeast Asia.
State energy firm PTT Pcl gained 1 percent, while convenience store operator CP All Pcl rose 1.9 percent. Vietnam shares climbed for a sixth straight session to their highest close in more than four-and-a-half months, supported by financial and consumer stocks.
The Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Viet Nam, Vietnam's largest listed bank, advanced 2.3 percent, while Vietnam Dairy Products JSC rose 1.8 percent.
Malaysian shares were marginally higher as a fall in telecom giant Axiata Group Bhd kept the benchmark stock index in check.
Shares of Axiata Group fell 1.9 percent after the telecom company reported a quarterly net loss of 1.66 billion ringgit ($407.86 million), compared with a profit of 24.7 million ringgit a year earlier.
Meanwhile, Singapore shares ended flat after trading lower for most parts of the session.
The city-state's annual consumer price inflation slowed to 0.4 percent in January from 0.5 percent the previous month, and authorities lowered their inflation forecast for 2019 citing an expected decline in global oil prices for the year.
The data comes amidst a slowdown in economic growth in Singapore and a warning from the trade ministry that manufacturing is likely to face significant moderation this year. The Philippine stock market was closed for a holiday.
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