Singapore shares closed little changed on Friday in cautious trade ahead of quarterly results from two heavyweight domestic banks, with trading interest centred on some China-related firms.
The key Straits Times index finished up 0.10 percent, or 1.82 points, at 1,891.78. It was up 1.5 percent on the week.
Gainers edged out losers 185 to 181 and volume rose to 1.47 billion shares from 1.1 billion on Thursday, helped by active trading in debutant Straco Corp Ltd.
"There was some trading interest but no major buying or selling momentum today ahead of the bank results and the upcoming weekend," said a dealer at a European brokerage.
DBS Group Holdings, Southeast Asia's largest lender, and United Overseas Bank (UOB) are to release their results after the market closes. DBS and UOB have the largest and second largest weightings in the main Straits Times Index and account for about 28 percent of the index.
DBS shares fell 1.3 percent to S$15.60 and UOB rose 0.7 percent to S$13.90. According to Reuters Estimates, UOB is expected to earn S$318 million a six-percent rise on last year while DBS is seen posting a larger profit rise of 15 percent to S$291 million, boosted by its Hong Kong business.
Straco, an operator of tourist attractions in China, rose to a high of 35.5 Singapore cents before slipping to 29 cents against an initial public offering price of 26 cents.
The firm led volumes with 255 million shares traded. Bio-Treat Technology jumped 6.1 percent to S$1.04.