Singapore stocks edged slightly higher on Monday after gaining more than 1 percent in the previous session, led by lenders such as OCBC and United Overseas Bank.
Asian shares started the week on the weak note, pressured by a retreat on Wall Street amid tax reform uncertainty.
Meanwhile the euro declined after German Chancellor Angela Merkel's push to form a coalition government collapsed.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was nearly flat in early trade.
The Straits Times Index rose 0.12 percent or 4 points to 3,386. It ended 1.23 percent higher on Friday, taking the year-to-date performance to about 17 percent.
United Overseas Bank gained 0.7 percent, Oversea-Chinese Bank edged up 0.5 percent but DBS Group Holdings lost 1 percent.
Noble Group fell 4.4 percent after its unit entered into agreements with Canada-based mineral explorer Mkango Resources to invest in rare earths projects worth 14 million pounds (S$25 million).
Mainboard-listed TEE International ended down 0.5 percent after the company along with Catalist-listed Advancer Global and a financial investor entered into a joint venture agreement to buy Chiang Kiong Environmental and Envotek Engineering, together known as Chiang Kiong Group for S$18.5 million.
About 2.3 billion shares worth S$1 billion changed hands, with losers outnumbering gainers 279 to 150.
