Singapore shares fell for a third session on Thursday, dragged lower by lenders and energy stocks such as United Overseas Bank and Keppel Corp.
At 0600 GMT, the Straits Times Index lost 0.48 percent or 16 points to 3,263. It ended 0.48 percent lower on Wednesday, taking the year-to-date gains to about 14 percent.
Financials pulled the index lower, with United Overseas Bank shedding 0.8 percent and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp declining 0.4 percent.
Energy stocks also fell, with offshore rig builder Keppel Corp shares down 1 percent while Sembcorp Industries declined 2 percent.
Keppel Corp said it signed an agreement to sell a stake in Golar Hilli LLC to a unit of Golar LNG Partners for US$658 million.
Among the gainers, electronics firm Creative Technology jumped 14 percebt after it won a lawsuit against Chinese tech company Huawei, with the latter paying S$36 million in damages.
About 1.3 billion shares worth S$671 million changed hands, with losers outnumbering gainers 189 to 188.
In Asia, most of the indices gained after investors took heart from the minutes of a U.S. Federal Reserve meeting that showed policymakers wary about weak inflation, indicating that the Fed may slow the pace of rate increases.
Fed policymakers unanimously decided to keep interest rates unchanged at their July 25-26 meeting.
