Philippine stocks rose 0.5 percent on Monday as investors hunted for bargains after Friday's sharp fall, while Vietnam shares jumped nearly 1.5 percent with financials and utilities driving the surge.

Real estate stocks such as SM Prime Holdings Inc and Ayala Land were the biggest gainers in the Philippines. SM Prime climbed as much as 2.2 percent, while Ayala Land rose up to 1.4 percent.

Investor sentiment was also upbeat after the World Bank said after market hours on Friday that the Philippine economy is expected to expand at a slightly quicker pace in 2017 than earlier forecast.

"The market went down sharply on Friday, and today is some bargain-hunting ahead of a possible window dressing by the end of the year," said Manny Cruz, an analyst with Asiasec Equities Inc in Manila.

The Philippine Stock Exchange PSEI Index, which has been Southeast Asia's second best performer this year with a gain of about 22 percent as of Friday's close, had shed 1.5 percent in the previous session.

Last week, it had added 0.4 percent as the Congress approved a much-awaited tax reform bill that President Rodrigo Duterte needs to push ahead to realise his economic agenda.

"This will be the backbone of the government in the structural development starting next year," Cruz said.

Vietnam shares rose as much as 1.6 percent with Petrovietnam Gas Joint Stock Corp and Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Viet Nam leading the gains.

Petrovietnam Gas rose 4.4 percent, while Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Foreign Trade of Viet Nam was up 2.9 percent.

Singapore shares dropped 0.3 percent with Singapore Telecommunications declining over 3 percent.

Data showed that the city-state's non-oil exports growth slowed significantly to 9.1 percent in November, compared with October's double-digit surge.

Indonesian stocks fell 0.5 percent, hurt by losses in consumer discretionary and financial stocks.

An index of the country's 45 most liquid stocks fell as much as 0.7 percent.