Singapore equities fell for a second straight session on Friday, tracking weakness in Asian stocks following a weak session on Wall Street amid concerns the days of easy money are coming to an end.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.2 percent after the European Central Bank's June meeting minutes showed the central bank is moving closer towards unwinding its monetary stimulus.
Meanwhile U.S. stocks fell following a private report that showed companies added fewer workers to U.S. payrolls in June than the prior month.
Investors will now look for the Friday's jobs report to get a sense of the improvement in the U.S. labor market.
At 0520 GMT, the Straits Times Index fell 0.14 percent or 5 points to 3,221. It ended 0.7 percent lower on Thursday, taking the year-to-date gains to 12 percent.
Among the lenders, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp, DBS Group Holdings and United Overseas Bank dropped between 0.2 percent and 0.4 percent.
Chemical maker Jiutian Chemical fell 9 percent after two sessions of gains while commodity trader Noble Group declined 3 percent, a day after it closed 36 percent higher.
Gainers included skincare products maker Best World International rising 3.4 percent and transport company Comfortdelgro Corp adding 0.9 percent.
Shares of Disa, a maker of foundry machinery and filters, rose for a third straight session, gaining 7.6 percent.
About 869 million shares worth S$428 million changed hands, with gainers outnumbering losers 224 to 100.
