Singapore stocks gained on Monday, tracking gains in other Asian equities after U.S. inflation data underpinned optimism that the global growth is continuing at a steady pace.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained for a fifth day running to its highest level since late 2007.
Underlying inflation in the United States was muted at 0.2 percent in August, data showed on Friday.
At 0430 GMT, the Straits Times Index rose 0.17 percent or 6 points to 3,324. It ended 0.5 percent higher on Friday, taking the year-to-date performance to about 15 percent.
United Overseas Bank fell 0.7 percent, Overseas-Chinese Banking Corp was up 0.1 percent and DBS Group Holdings lost 0.1 percent.
Shares in AEM Holdings, a maker of precision engineering equipment, jumped as much as 13 percent after it raised its nine months and full-year earnings outlook, citing higher sales, better profit margin, and better operational efficiency.
Gold mining company Anchor Resources rose about 2 percent after saying it had received government nod for the operational mining scheme at the Lubuk Mandi Mine in Malaysia.
Moya Holdings Asia, which designs and builds water treatment systems, on Monday said that the Indonesian Supreme Court dismissed a class action lawsuit against a unit of Moya's recent acquisition, Acuatico. Its shares lost about 4 percent.
About 906 million shares worth S$475 million changed hands, with gainers outnumbering losers 242 to 148.
Stocks in Asia traded near decade high ahead of U.S. economic data and next week's Chinese Communist Party Congress.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.15 percent, having gained 3.6 percent so far this month. Japan's Nikkei edged up 0.2 percent to another 21-year high.
Investors are focusing on U.S. consumer inflation figures due later in the day. Another key trigger would be China's 19th Communist Party Congress that begins on October 18, where President Xi Jinping is expected to lay out new policy initiatives and consolidate his power for a second five-year term.
