Most Southeast Asian stock markets ended higher on Friday after a strong overnight finish by Wall Street along with robust local economic data helped fuel investor confidence in the region. Wall Street's main indexes rose sharply overnight on positive earnings from Wal-Mart and Cisco, and after a broad package of tax cuts sought by President Donald Trump passed its first hurdle.
In Southeast Asia, Singapore shares ended 1.2 percent higher, snapping five consecutive sessions of declines, boosted by financials, as the city-state posted better-than-expected non-oil domestic exports in October. "I think the past two days were mainly due to profit-taking going to the year-end. So, it was the fundamentals from Singapore that gave a more optimistic outlook for equities," said Joel Ng, an analyst from Singapore-based KGI Securities.
Lender DBS Group Holdings climbed 3.4 percent, contributing the most to the index and making it the biggest percentage gainer. Malaysian shares closed 0.2 percent higher after data showed that the country's economy grew 6.2 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, recording its fastest growth since the second quarter of 2014.
However, Southeast Asia's third largest economy saw its worst week of the year, losing about 1.2 percent. Indonesian shares hit a record high before trimming gains to close slightly higher. The country's central bank on Thursday kept its key policy rate unchanged, as expected and in line with a goal of maintaining financial stability at a time when the market anticipates a US interest rate hike next month.
The Indonesian sub-index comprising 45 most liquid stocks on the benchmark, finished at a record high. Philippine shares closed 1.3 percent higher, led by financials and real estate stocks. Property developer SM Investments Corp ended 2.6 percent higher, while Ayala Land closed at a one-week high. Meanwhile, Vietnam snapped 10 straight sessions of gains, dragged by financials, but posted its seventh consecutive weekly gain.
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