Southeast Asian stock markets, except Vietnam, rose on Wednesday after US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping both struck conciliatory notes on trade, holding hopes of a compromise between Washington and Beijing on tariffs. While Xi promised to open the country's economy further and lower import tariffs on products like cars, Trump in a Twitter post expressed confidence that the world's two largest economies would come through an ongoing trade spat and "make great progress together."
Asia shares ex-Japan pared early gains to rise marginally, while Wall Street ended sharply higher overnight. In Southeast Asia, Malaysian shares climbed 0.5 percent to end higher for a fifth straight session, buoyed by data showing industrial production rose 3 percent in February. CIMB Group Holdings Bhd was up 2.3 percent. Thai shares edged up, led by financials, with Kasikornbank PCL closing nearly 4 percent higher and Bangkok Bank PCL gaining 2.6 percent.
Philippine shares rose 0.1 percent, with losses in real estate shares offset by gains in industrials. Ayala Land Inc slipped 1.8 percent, while Ayala Corp jumped 3 percent. The country's exports fell for the first time in more than a year in February while imports sustained a double-digit increase, keeping the country's trade deficit above $3 billion for a fourth straight month.
Indonesia rose 0.5 percent, led by financials and consumer discretionary stocks. The Vietnam index ended 2.6 percent lower on broad based losses, with real estate company Vingroup JSC slipping 3.8 percent and Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Viet Nam ending 4.4 percent lower. The index is seeing a short-term correction after it failed to break out of its 1,200 point resistance level, said Fiachra Mac Cana, head of research at Ho Chi Minh Securities.