Singapore stocks edged higher on Monday, led by lenders such as OCBC and as geopolitical tensions over North Korea's nuclear and missile programme receded.
Asian shares gained after North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un decided to hold a party over the weekend rather than launch another missile.
South Korea's main index added 0.8 percent, while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.4 percent.
Pyongyang held a massive celebration to congratulate the nuclear scientists and technicians who steered the country's sixth and largest nuclear test a week earlier, Reuters reported.
At 0620 GMT, the Straits Times Index gained 0.17 percent or 6 points to 3,234. It ended 0.02 percent higher on Friday, taking the year-to-date performance to about 12 percent.
Among the lenders, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp rose 0.5 percent while DBS Group Holdings added 0.3 percent.
Singapore-based steel maker BRC Asia jumped 6 percent after receiving a conditional cash offer from Esteel Enterprise at a price of 92.5 Singapore cents a share.
Technology firm Trek 2000 International climbed as much as 56 percent on Monday after its shares resumed trading on the Singapore Exchange.
TEE International, which provides mechanical and electrical engineering services, said it formed a strategic alliance with Advancer Global, which provides security services, pest control, and cleaning and stewarding services to its customers. The stock was untraded.
About 773 million shares worth S$445 million changed hands, with gainers outnumbering losers 199 to 171.
