Singapore shares snapped four-day fall on Thursday, led by gains in lenders such as DBS Group even as sentiment remained jittery due to lingering North Korea tensions.
The Straits Times Index rose 0.16 percent or 5 points to 3,323. It ended 0.05 percent lower on Tuesday, taking the year-to-date gains to about 15 percent. Singapore financial markets were shut on Wednesday due to a public holiday.
Lenders such as DBS Group Holdings and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp rose 1.1 percent each.
mm2 Asia advanced 1 percent after the media content provider said it is still in discussions with Village Cinemas Australia on possible options regarding the purchase of a 50 percent interest in Golden Village cinema business in Singapore.
Among the laggards, food manufacturing company QAF, whose brands include Gardenia and Farmland, fell 7.3 percent after it reported a 72 percent slump in the second-quarter profit.
Jumbo Group, which operates seafood restaurants in Singapore, China and Japan, lost 5 percent after reporting a slight drop in profit for the third-quarter profit.
Thai Beverage was down 1 percent. The liquor maker on Tuesday said its unit The QSR of Asia has signed a deal with Yum Restaurants to buy more than 240 KFC stores in Thailand for about 11.3 billion thai baht.
About 3 billion shares worth S$1.8 billion changed hands, with losers outnumbering gainers 314 to 168.
Stocks in Asia fell as global risk appetite faltered amidst increasing geopilitical worries regarding North Korea.
South Korea warned North Korea that it would face a strong response if it carried through with a threat to attack U.S. island territory Guam.
