Singapore stocks closed lower for a second session on Thursday, dragged by financials such as OCBC and as geopolitical tensions over North Korea's nuclear and missile programme continued to cast a shadow.
Asian stock markets rose, tracking a recovery in global equities as Wall Street gained overnight after U.S. lawmakers unexpectedly agreed to raise the government debt limit.
U.S. President Donald Trump forged a surprising deal with Democrats in Congress on Wednesday to extend the U.S. debt limit and provide government funding until Dec. 15, in a rare bipartisan accord, Reuters reported.
An index of stocks across Asia, excluding Japan, gained 0.5 percent.
The Straits Times Index lost 0.14 percent or 4 point to 3,228. It ended 0.58 percent lower on Wednesday, taking the year-to-date performance to about 12 percent.
Among the lenders, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp fell 0.3 percent while United Overseas Bank lost 0.1 percent.
Shares in Singapore's largest taxi company, ComfortDelGro lost 1 percent, its third day of falls. The stock has been hammered after rival Grab launched what it calls "huge rental discounts" to woo its customers.
Keppel Corp shares fell 0.3 percent. Its unit Keppel Offshore & Marine said it has entered into a deal with Pavilion Energy and Indonesia's state-owned electricity provider PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara to distribute liquefied natural gas to remote areas in west Indonesia.
Among the gainers, shares in mm2 Asia gained 3 percent after its unit along with New Culture Media Hong Kong and 9i Film & Television Media agreed to co-invest US$25 million to co-produce five films.
Investment holding company CITIC Envirotech said it will acquire 60 percent stake in environmental and utility firm CITIC Qingyuan for 378 million yuan (S$78.3 million). The stock was rose 2 percent.
About 2 billion shares worth S$1.1 billion changed hands, with gainers outnumbering losers 194 to 192.
