Singapore stocks gained for a third day on Friday, led by lenders such as DBS Group as upbeat earnings from U.S. hi-tech giants boosted risk appetite.
Stocks in Asia extended gains after a batch of strong earnings from Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon.com.
Japan's Nikkei gained 0.6 percent while South Korea's Kospi rose 0.2 percent and Australian shares rose 0.2 percent. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was flat in dollar terms.
At 0345 GMT, the Straits Times Index rose 0.51 percent or 17 points to 3,373. It ended 0.37 percent higher on Thursday, taking the year-to-date performance to about 17 percent.
Overseas-Chinese Banking Corp rose 0.9 percent, United Overseas Bank gained 0.4 percent and DBS Group Holdings added 1.2 percent.
Singapore Exchange gained 0.6 percent after its chief told Bloomberg that his company is still in the running to win a listing of the shares of oil giant Aramco.
Global Logistic Properties, which was bought by a Chinese consortium for S$16 billion, rose 0.9 percent after its independent financial adviser has deemed a proposed privatisation to be fair and reasonable.
But CDL Hospitality fell 0.3 percent after posting a 3 percent fall in distribution per stapled security, reflecting the effects of a rights issue completed in August.
Indofood Agri Resources, a maker of edible oils and fats products in Indonesia, gained 1 percent despite posting a 37 percent fall in third-quarter profit.
The Myanmar-based conglomerate Yoma Strategic Holdings was unchanged at S$0.59 after it reported a near 57 percent slump in second-quarter net profit citing the absence of the fair value gain from the telecommunication towers investment.
About 822 million shares worth S$543 million changed hands, with gainers outnumbering losers 191 to 150.
