March 4 (Reuters) - Asian stocks made their best two-month start to a year in seven years in January-February, amid growing signs that the United States and China are close to striking a trade deal.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares .MIAP00000PUS added over 8 percent in the first two months of this year, the biggest since 2012. In February, the index rose 1.3 percent.
U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to push back the March 1 tariff deadline and the progress in trade talks between the world's top two economies boosted Asian markets last month.
At the end of last week, Trump said he had asked China to immediately remove all tariffs on U.S. agricultural products because trade talks were progressing well. February, Chinese equities .SSEC led the gains in the region with a 13.8 percent rise, followed by Vietnam .VNI and Australia .AORD .
On the other hand, Pakistan .KSE and the Philippines .PSI were the biggest losers, declining 4.2 percent and 3.7 percent respectively.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Asia-Pacific monthly price change in local currency
https://tmsnrt.rs/2C8HwHJ Asia-Pacific equities performance in 2019
https://tmsnrt.rs/2BZk937
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