Singapore shares fell for a fourth session on Tuesday, dragged lower by lenders such as OCBC and United Overseas Bank.
Asian shares advanced after a record-setting session on Wall Street, with sentiment boosted by expectations U.S. lawmakers will pass a long-awaited tax bill.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.3 percent.
The Straits Times Index declined 0.3 percent or 10 points to 3,404. It ended 0.06 percent lower on Monday, taking the year-to-date performance to about 19 percent.
Shares of United Overseas Bank lost 0.1 percent, Oversea-Chinese Banking declined 0.5 percent while DBS Group Holdings rose 0.1 percent.
Shares in City Developments rose 1 percent after its Chairman Kwek Leng Beng defended his bid to take control of Millennium & Copthorne Hotels following minority shareholders opposition to the 2 billion pounds takeover offer.
But brewing group Thai Beverage lost 2 percent after it won an auction to buy a $4.8 billion stake in Vietnam's top brewer Sabeco.
About 1.6 billion shares worth S$978 million changed hands, with losers outnumbering gainers 224 to 173.
