Singapore stocks rose for a third straight session on Thursday, led by OCBC following an upbeat quarterly profit.
The Straits Times Index rose 0.54 percent or 18 points to 3,354. It ended 0.27 percent higher on Wednesday, taking the year-to-date gains to 16 percent.
Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. rose to a record as quarterly profit beat estimates and return on equity increased to highest level since June 2015.
Other lenders also advanced: Both DBS Group and United Overseas Bank added 1.6 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively.
United Overseas Bank will report its second-quarter results on Friday, followed by DBS Group Holdings, Southeast Asia's largest bank, on August 4.
Among the laggards, Noble Group plunged as much as 49 percent, after the embattled commodity trader warned of a quarterly loss of as much as $1.8 billion.
About 3.1 billion shares worth S$1.5 billion changed hands, with losers outnumbering gainers 277 to 208.
Meanwhile, Asian stocks hit 2007 high after the Federal Reserve signaled that inflation remains persistently below its target.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan climbed 0.9 percent to heights not seen since December 2007.
