Singapore stocks fell on Thursday, in line with weak Asian shares as investors took a pause after equities surged to the highest level in almost 10 years.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.6 percent, with South Korea's tech-heavy Kospi index on course to drop 1.6 percent.
The Straits Times Index lost 0.18 percent or 6 points to 3,342. It ended 0.32 percent higher on Wednesday, taking the year-to-date gains to 16 percent.
Index heavyweight DBS, which reports earnings on Friday, fell 0.5 percent. Sembcorp Industries dropped 0.6 percent ahead of results on Thursday.
Shares of Singapore-listed commodity trader Noble Group tumbled 5 percent after anonymous researcher Iceberg Research launched another negative report about the company.
Telecoms service provider StarHub fell 1.1 percent after reporting a 21 percent fall in second-quarter net profit, hurt by lower revenue from voice, roaming services and pay TV.
Food and beverage maker BreadTalk Group reported a near 62 percent jump in second-quarter profit powered by an increase in other income and reduced expenses. The stock was down 3.6 percent.
Realty company CapitaLand reported a 97 percent surge in second-quarter profit, helped by higher revaluation gains from investment properties in Singapore and China, coupled with portfolio gains. Its shares fell 0.5 percent.
Far East Orchard, a diversified real estate developer, fell 1 percent after posting a 97.3 percent slump in second-quarter profit due to the absence of a one-time gain from sale of units and lower profits from the hospitality assets in Australia.
Among the gainers, shares in casino operator Genting Singapore advanced 1.3 percent after its second-quarter net profit surged nine times from last year.
About 2 billion shares worth S$1.2 billion changed hands, with losers outnumbering gainers 243 to 206.
Investors will also be keeping a close eye on data, including the Bank of England on Thursday, where it is likely to leave rates unchanged and U.S. jobs data on Friday.
