SET, Vietnam shares outperform SE Asian peers

The Stock Exchange of Thailand and shares in Vietnam gained, while other Southeast Asian markets pulled back somewhat from early losses on Monday after global markets showed signs of recovery following reports of trade talks between the United States and China, calming fears of a full-blown trade war.

The Wall Street Journal said the US has asked China in a letter last week to cut the tariff on US autos, buy more US-made semiconductors and give US firms greater access to the Chinese financial sector.

The Journal also said US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was considering a visit to Beijing to pursue negotiations.

Broader Asia shares excluding Japan reversed course to rise 0.53%.

The SET main index gained 6.89 points or 0.38% to close at 1,801.10, in trade worth 41.77 billion baht.

Vietnam shares ended up 1.5%, boosted by record-high gains in real estate investor Vingroup JSC.

Singapore shares ended 0.3% lower after a brief uptick on better-than-expected industrial data for February.

Industrial shares gained but were offset by declines in financial and telecommunication stocks.

"From the fundamentals prospective, this (industrial output) result reinforces the healthy fundamentals underpinning the stock markets and reinforces the accelerating growth rate for 2018," said Joel Ng, an analyst at KGI Securities.

Banking heavyweight DBS Group Holdings was the biggest drag on the index, falling as much as 1.75% to hit a six-week low, before ending down 0.7%.

Philippine shares also trimmed losses to end 0.5% lower. Realtor SM Investments Corp was the biggest drag on the benchmark, ending down 0.95%.

Indonesian shares ended down 0.2%, their ninth loss in ten sessions, on falls in consumer staples. An index of the country's 45 most liquid stocks ended 0.3% lower.