In Manila, shares of Universal Robina Corp rose 5.3 percent after it announced a cash dividend of P1.50 per share and an increase in quarterly earnings.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) closed at 7,782.57, 0.70 percent or 54.39 points higher. This was its 10th record close for the year.
"Investor confidence in our local market remains strong as shown by the continuous market rally despite the downward trend in the region. Expectations of positive listed company annual income results and untouched key policy rates in coming days fuel the upbeat market performance. Given this favorable backdrop, we hope that the new levels reached would become the springboard for a more resilient market even as global uncertainties persist," PSE President and CEO Hans B. Sicat said.
The PSEi also hit a new intraday record at 7,786.78, beating the previous record intraday level at 7,738.12 last February 4.
Aside from URC, other big gainers include LT Group, Meralco, SM Investments and Petron, which is still taking its cue on the rebound of oil prices last week.
However, Philippine gaming stocks tanked on news of China's " declaration of war against global gambling."
Shares of Bloomberry Resorts, which operates Solaire casino; Melco Crown Philippines Resorts, which opened City of Dreams Manila earlier this month; and Travellers International Hotel Group, which operates Resorts World Manila, all slumped.
Meanwhile, Jakarta's composite index was up 0.4 percent at 5,363.65, climbing further from a record closing high of 5,342.51 hit on Friday.
Shares of retailer Matahari Putra Prima jumped 2.5 percent and Bank Mandiri surged 3.1 percent, with the bank due to report full-year 2014 earnings later in the week.
Expectations of an interest rate cut supported the prospect for earnings growth, broker said.
Markets are speculating about an interest rate cut by Bank Indonesia in its policy rate meeting next week, said Jakarta-based Samuel Sekuritas Indonesia in a research note.
"An interest rate cut would be positive to many sectors," said Samuel analyst Muhamad Alfatih.
Stocks in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand retreated after notching up strong gains last week while Vietnam staged a mild rebound from last week's loss.
Brokers in Bangkok expected the stock market to move sideways with global macro factors being the key focus.
"While the U.S. reported stronger-than-expected jobs data for January and made investors more confident of the U.S. economic momentum, some concerns about rising interest rate are back and weighed on U.S. stocks Friday," said KGI Securities in a report.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.6 percent while U.S. stock futures also shed 0.4 percent ESc1.
Data published on Sunday showed China's trade performance slumped in January, with exports falling 3.3 percent from year-ago levels while imports tumbled 19.9 percent, far worse than analysts had expected. - With ABS-CBNnews.com
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com