Singapore stocks edged slightly lower on Monday after gaining more than 1 percent in the previous session, dragged lower by lenders such as DBS Bank 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.
At 0330 GMT, the Straits Times Index fell 0.04 percent or 2 points to 3,380. It ended 1.23 percent higher on Friday, taking the year-to-date performance to about 17 percent.
United Overseas Bank lost 0.2 percent, DBS Group Holdings lost 1.2 percent while Oversea-Chinese Bank edged up 0.1 percent.
Noble Group fell 3 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 was unchanged 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 1 billion shares worth S$413 million changed hands, with losers outnumbering gainers 196 to 138.
