Singapore shares climbed about 1 percent intraday on positive corporate earnings, before paring gains to close 0.4 percent higher.
Keppel Corp Ltd posted a fourth-quarter net profit of S$135 million ($99.39 million), compared to a net loss a year earlier, while Singapore Exchange Ltd posted a 9 percent rise in second-quarter net profit.
Shares of Keppel Corp rose 1.1 percent, while those of Singapore Exchange firmed 0.9 percent.
Data released earlier showed the city-state's manufacturing output in December rose 2.7 percent from a year earlier, compared with a Reuters forecast of 4.4 percent expansion and 7.6 percent on-year growth seen in November.
"Should 4Q18 GDP manufacturing growth get shaded down in tandem with how industrial production fared (assuming ceteris paribus), 4Q18 GDP print will likely print at its 2.0 percent handle, thus bringing full-year 2018 GDP growth print to 3.2 percent," United Overseas Bank said in a note.
Malaysian shares rose 0.4 percent, posting their fifth session of gains in six, driven by materials and consumer cyclicals.
The investment banking arm of Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank), Malaysia's largest bank by assets, is closing its institutional research business in Hong Kong and China as part of restructuring the institutional brokerage business, a bank spokeswoman said.
Shares of the company rose 0.4 percent to their highest close in over three months.
Material and telecom stocks helped the benchmark Indonesian index close higher. Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Persero) Tbk Perusahaan Perseroan rose 0.5 percent, while Bank Central Asia Tbk PT firmed 0.7 percent.
For the week, Indonesian shares added 0.7 percent in their fifth straight weekly gain.
Philippine shares erased earlier gains to close slightly lower, but posted their fourth straight weekly gain.
Industrials were the biggest drag on Friday with Aboitiz Equity Ventures dropping 4.2 percent and JG Summit slipping 2.1 percent.
(Reporting by Shreya Mariam Job in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
By Shreya Mariam Job
