Singapore shares were little changed on Friday, as investors refrained from taking bets ahead of the year-end holidays but the index was set to post an 18 percent gain for 2017.
Asian shares were poised for a record close on the final trading day of 2017. Trading volumes were, however, low ahead of New-Year holidays.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index is set for an annual gain of almost 29 percent, boosted by the region's world-beating growth. Hong Kong led the charge with gains of 36 percent for the year, while South Korea notched up 22 percent and India 27 percent, Reuters data showed.
At 0510 GMT, the Straits Times Index was up 0.09 percent or 3 points to 3,402. It ended 0.22 percent higher on Thursday.
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Among the advancers, lenders such as Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp lost 0.1 percent, DBS Group Holdings was unchanged at S$24.90 and United Overseas Bank gained 1 percent.
Electric services company C&G Environmental Protection Holdings jumped 25 percent after it entered into a deal with India's Param Mitra Coal Resources for a S$400 million reverse takeover.
Commodities trader Noble Group advanced 7 percent after its wholly-owned subsidiary, Noble Resources International acquired an additional 10 percent stake in Northern Mongolian Railways Ltd (NMRL) for US$1.4 million.
Other active stocks included, Sincap climbing 11.8 percent to S$0.019 while Disa jumped 15 percent to S40.015 in afternoon trades.
About 668 million shares worth S$659 million changed hands, with gainers outnumbering losers 164 to 163.
