Singapore equities fell on Thursday after a five-day rally, dragged lower by lenders such as DBS Group and United Overseas Bank.
The Straits Times Index fell 0.96 percent or 32 points to 3,293. It ended 0.57 percent higher on Wednesday, taking the year-to-date gains to 15.4 percent.
Lenders were among the top losers: United Overseas Bank fell 2.7 percent, DBS Group Holdings declined 1.8 percent while Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp slipped 1.7 percent.
Among other losers, Singapore Press Holdings lost 1.7 percent; Genting Singapore shed 0.9 percent and Singapore Airlines dropped 0.7 percent.
Shares of Singapore-listed Rowsley jumped 18 percent. The realty firm stock jumped 99 percent on Wednesday after saying it planned to buy healthcare assets valued at S$1.9 billion from its controlling shareholder, billionaire Peter Lim.
About 3.6 billion shares worth S$1.5 billion changed hands, with losers outnumbering gainers 244 to 224.
Meanwhile, Asian stocks climbed for a ninth straight day. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.15 percent, hovering near its highest level since December 2007.
