Singapore shares rose by midday Friday, outperforming other Asian bourses, as gains in blue chips such as Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp and casino operator Genting Singapore PLC helped to lift the benchmark index.

Traders said the Straits Times Index was playing catch up with other Asian equities as it fell slightly in the previous session despite strong gains in other regional bourses.

However, the world's second largest carrier Singapore Airlines, retreated as much as 2.7%, after it posted disappointing quarterly earnings and warned of further deterioration in its business.

 

By 1:00 p.m., the MSCI Asia ex-Japan was 0.4% lower, while the STI was up 0.6%, or 18.28 points, at 2,919.32.