SINGAPORE: Most Southeast Asian shares rose on Wednesday on a recovery in investor appetite for riskier assets after rosy corporate earnings from Wall Street boosted sentiment.
US stock indexes rallied overnight as bluechip companies reported strong earnings, fuelling optimism over what is expected to be the strongest earnings season in seven years.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.6 percent after four consecutive sessions of losses.
In a surprise move late on Tuesday, the People's Bank of China said it will reduce the cash banks hold as reserves, a move that frees up lending for small firms, but falls short of broad monetary easing.
"One key development from China, where they cut reserve requirement ratio, I think that was a positive sentiment spillover for emerging markets as a whole, and plus for Indonesia specifically," said Taye Shim, head of research at Mirae Asset Sekuritas in Indonesia.
Indonesian stocks rose 0.5 percent, with gains from materials and financials pushing the index higher.
Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Persero) Tbk Perusahaan Perseroan PT rose 2.2 percent, while Bank Mandiri (Persero) Tbk PT rose 1.9 percent.
Singapore shares climbed 1.7 percent to their highest in nearly three months, helped by strong gains in financials.
Top lenders DBS Group Holdings Ltd, United Overseas Bank Ltd and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Ltd rose between 2.2 percent and 3 percent.
Shares in the Philippines closed up 0.9 percent, with financials and real estate stocks leading the gains.
Index heavyweights Ayala Land Inc and BDO Unibank Inc jumped 3.1 percent and 3 percent, respectively.
Financials were the top gainers on the Thai index which gained 0.9 percent, following the cabinet's approval on Tuesday to offer tax incentives to encourage mergers among the country's commercial banks.
Malaysian shares closed marginally lower after government data showed the country's March consumer price index rose at its slowest pace in nearly two years.
Vietnam shares ended down for a third session in four, down 1.3 percent, with financials weighing heavily on the index.
Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Viet Nam and Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam slumped 3.3 percent and 4.1 percent, respectively, dragging the index to a five-week low.
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