Southeast Asian stock markets rose on Wednesday as hopes for an extension to the March 1 deadline for a deal between US and China were boosted by US President's comments amid a fresh bout of talks.
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday suggested that he was open to pushing off the trade deal deadline to complete negotiations.
US tariffs on $200 billion worth of imports from China, Southeast Asia's largest trading partner, are currently scheduled to rise to 25 per cent from 10 per cent if no trade deal is reached by March 1.
Leading the gains in the regional market, Philippine stocks rebounded from the previous session's losses to jump 1.2 per cent on the back of industrial stocks, reports Reuters.
SM Prime Holdings Inc gained as much as 2.5 per cent, while Universal Robina Corp firmed up to 5.3 per cent.
Malaysian shares extended gains into a third straight session, helped by telecom and material stocks.
Maxis Bhd snapped a three-day losing spree to advance as much as 3.1 per cent.
Malaysia's Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd rose up to 3.5 per cent after Spanish oil and gas firm Repsol said the company with its partners—Petronas and MOECO–discovered gas resources estimated at at least 2 trillion cubic feet, the largest gas discovery in Indonesia in the past 18 years.
Singapore stocks climbed to their highest in more than six months, boosted by utilities and telecom stocks.
Shares of Capitaland Ltd rose as much as 1.5 per cent after reporting a 71.2 per cent surge in fourth-quarter profit and declaring a dividend of 12 cents per share.
Indonesian shares rose 0.2 per cent, driven mostly by financial stocks, while the Vietnam index climbed 0.5 per cent, helped by gains in the real estate sector.
The Thai index resumed trade after a holiday to edge marginally higher, lifted by industrials and materials.
