Southeast Asian stocks rise on hopes of Sino-US trade war relief

Southeast Asian stocks rose on Friday taking cues from broader Asia, after a media report on progress in US-China trade talks stirred hopes of a deal in their tariff dispute and supported risk sentiment.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.7 per cent, reports Reuters.

Industrial and financial stocks drove the Philippine benchmark index 1 per cent higher, leading gains in the region.

Shares of BDO Unibank Inc climbed 1.9 per cent, while those of Ayala Corp advanced 1.6 per cent.

The Singapore index recovered from the losses of the previous session owing to a fall in the country's December exports, to rise 0.2 per cent.

Financial stocks largely pulled the index higher, with shares of DBS Group Holdings Ltd and United Overseas Bank Ltd rising 0.4 per cent and 0.3 per cent, respectively.

However, the Indonesian index bucked the trend to fall slightly, dragged by consumer staples and financial stocks.

The country's central bank on Thursday held its key rate unchanged and the governor indicated that its cycle of aggressive tightening in 2018 was "near its peak", thanks to "dovish" recent signals from the US Federal Reserve.