Singapore stocks were little changed on Tuesday led by lenders such as DBS but weakness in other regional markets following a drop in China's factory gauge kept gains in check.
Stocks in Asia were sluggish and bonds added to gains after a sharper-than-expected slowdown in China's October factory growth.
Wall Street pulled back from record-high territory on Monday, weighed down by a drop in drugmaker Merck.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.2 percent.
Investors are now focused on the impending appointment of the Federal Reserve chair, with speculation rife that Fed governor Jerome Powell is the favoured suitor.
At 0350 GMT, the Straits Times Index rose 0.06 percent or 2 points to 3,377. It ended 0.31 percent lower on Monday, taking the year-to-date performance to about 17 percent.
Overseas-Chinese Banking Corp rose 0.1 percent to a fresh record high after the city-state's No. 2 lender posted a 12 percent increase in quarterly net profit last week.
Among the other gainers, United Overseas Bank added 0.2 percent and DBS Group Holdings rose 0.8 percent.
Losers included property developer Roxy-Pacific Holdings, which lost 4.3 percent after its net profit tumbled 82 percent in the third-quarter due to lower revenue from the property development and hotel ownership segments.
KTL Global, a supplier of rigging equipment to the offshore oil and gas, slumped 14 percent after its chief executive officer was asked to assist authorities in an investigation concerning a possible offence under the Securities and Futures Act.
About 980 million shares worth S$734 million changed hands, with losers outnumbering gainers 175 to 165.
