Singapore stocks rose for a third straight day on Thursday, led by OCBC following an upbeat quarterly profit.
At 0550 GMT, the Straits Times Index rose 0.24 percent or 8 points to 3,344. It ended 0.27 percent higher on Wednesday, taking the year-to-date gains to 16 percent.
Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. rose to a record as quarterly profit beat estimates and return on equity increased to highest level since June 2015.
Other lenders also advanced: Both DBS Group and United Overseas Bank added 0.8 percent each.
United Overseas Bank will report its second-quarter results on Friday, followed by DBS Group Holdings, Southeast Asia's largest bank, on August 4.
Among the laggards, Noble Group plunged as much as 49 percent, after the embattled commodity trader warned of a quarterly loss of as much as $1.8 billion.
About 2 billion shares worth S$810 million changed hands, with losers outnumbering gainers 226 to 191.
Meanwhile, Asian stocks hit 2007 high after the Federal Reserve signaled that inflation remains persistently below its target.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan climbed 0.9 percent to heights not seen since December 2007.
