Singapore stocks edged higher on Thursday, led by gains in Keppel Corp after new order win, but caution remained ahead of the global central bankers meeting later in the day.
Asian stocks were on the hook ahead of the Jackson Hole central-bank meeting. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.4 percent.
U.S. President Donald Trump's latest remarks, which included threat to shut down the U.S. government and talk of ending the North American Free Trade Agreement gripped financial markets overnight.
On Wednesday, U.S. stock indexes closed between 0.3 percent and 0.4 percent lower.
Markets are focusing on the annual conference of global central bankers hosted by the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank at Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Fed Chair Janet Yellen and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi will be among the officials addressing the summit, which kicks off later today.
At 0540 GMT, the Straits Times Index gained 0.34 percent or 11 points to 3,271. It ended 0.11 percent lower on Wednesday, taking the year-to-date gains to about 13 percent.
Lenders such as United Overseas Bank rose 1.2 percent and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp added 0.4 percent.
Singapore conglomerate Keppel Corp gained about 2 percent after it secured order worth more than US$400 million from Honolulu-based Pasha Hawaii to build two liquefied natural gas containerships.
Department store operator Metro Holdings rose 1.7 percent after saying it is in talks with Beijing-based property developer H-Change for a potential sale of its 30 percent stake in Chinese company Nanchang Top Spring.
IHH Healthcare, majority owned by Malaysian sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Berhad, edged up 0.3 percent after reporting a 29 percent rise in quarterly net profit due to one-off gain from divestment of a minority stake in Apollo Hospitals.
Among the losers, engineering services provider Boustead Projects dropped 1.2 percent despite securing a design-and-build contract from Yusen Logistics.
About 1.3 billion shares worth S$588 million changed hands, with gainers outnumbering losers 189 to 177.
