Hosting his first cabinet meeting of the new term, Indonesian President Joko Widodo stressed the government's priority would be job creation. Widodo has retained several economic ministers from his first term, including Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, whose appointment is seen as continuation of the focus on economic growth. An index of the country's 45 most liquid stocks was up 2%, rising for the tenth straight session as well.
Singapore shares added 0.8%, boosted by gains in financial and industrial sectors. The city-state's economy may be a few quarters away from a recovery as the decline in trade and manufacturing this year hasn't really spread to other sectors, the Monetary Authority of Singapore's chief Ravi Menon told Bloomberg.
A recovery, though not robust, was still likely as the negative output gap, the estimated difference between economy's actual and potential performance, isn't expected to widen, Menon added. Index heavyweights DBS Group Holdings and Jardine Matheson Holdings advanced 1.2% and 1.5%, respectively.
Thai stocks closed down 0.6%, dragged by heavy losses in the financial sector. Heavyweight Kasikornbank PCL declined 7.4%, as the bank forecast its gross non-performing loans (NPL) ratio to be in the range of 3.6%-4% in 2020, wider than 2019's NPL gross ratio of 3.34%. "I think people are closely monitoring the NPL issue. And when one of the biggest bank continue to signal that NPL target wil rise next year, I think it's quite a big deal for the market," said Rakpong Chaisuparakul, analyst at KGI Securities Thailand.
The Philippine bourse added 0.2%, rising on the back of financials and consumer firms. Philippine central bank Governor Benjamin Diokno after market hours announced a 100-bps cut in banks' reserve requirement ratio that will take effect in December. BDO Unibank and SM Investment Corp rose 1.7% and 1.6%, respectively.