Southeast Asian stocks surge, Vietnam leads

Southeast Asian stocks surged on Monday, tracking gains across broader Asia, after a truce in trade relations between the United States and China. Vietnamese shares led gains in the region with a 2.7 percent rise, while Singaporean and Philippine stocks also advanced by more than 2 percent.
Asian shares rallied and European and US stocks were expected to follow suit as the United States and China agreed to halt additional tariffs, with further talks planned to reach an agreement within 90 days.
"Markets are short-term focused and should be buoyed by immediate relief that the sizeable tariff hike in January has been deferred," said Wei Liang Chang, an FX strategist at Mizuho Bank. The Vietnam index was boosted by Petrovietnam Gas Joint Stock Corp, which jumped 6.8 percent, and Vietnam Dairy Products JSC, which climbed 4.4 percent.
Singaporean shares clocked their highest close in almost two months and marked a fourth successive session of gains. Genting Singapore surged 7.2 percent, while Venture Corp Ltd strengthened 8.1 percent. Philippine stocks snapped two sessions of losses to end 2.2 percent higher. Industrial and real estate stocks boosted the benchmark, with SM Investments Corp adding 4.4 percent and SM Prime Holdings Inc gaining 5.2 percent.
Meanwhile, Thai shares were driven 1.9 percent higher by energy and financial stocks.
Inflation data for Thailand showed the annual headline consumer price index rose 0.9 percent in November, marginally falling short of the 1 percent rise predicted in a Reuters poll.
Indonesian shares rose 1 percent, helped by consumer staples and financial stocks.
Indonesia also released inflation data, which showed a 3.23 percent rise in the annual consumer price index in November compared with a year earlier, higher than the 3.15 percent increase expected by analysts according to a Reuters poll.
Unilever Indonesia Tbk PT rose 3.7 percent, while Bank Negara Indonesia (Persero) Tbk PT climbed 2.9 percent. Malaysian stocks closed 1.2 percent higher, strengthened by telecom and consumer non-cyclical shares.