Singapore shares shrugged off overnight losses on Wall Street to clock a third straight day of gains yesterday, driven in part by optimism over signs of economic recovery. The buoyant sentiment lifted the Straits Times Index (STI) by 10.04 points, or 0.36 per cent, to 2,788.59, with gainers outnumbering losers 243 to 199 on trade of 2.1 billion shares worth $1.56 billion.

Investors took heart from a DBS Bank report noting an anticipated recovery in gross domestic product, continued accommodative monetary policy and another "highly expansionary" Budget next year.

Developers CapitaLand and City Developments (CDL) hogged the STI's top spots. CapitaLand added 2.39 per cent to close at $3, while CDL gained 1.88 per cent to $7.58.

CapitaLand said yesterday it had obtained green loans in India totalling 17 billion rupees (S$307 million) from DBS Bank India and HSBC India to finance its green-certified business parks in the country.

OCBC Investment Research noted yesterday that while it is keeping its "buy" rating on CDL, there could be some near-term overhang on its shares until a report on its investment in Sincere Property Group is disclosed.

The biggest losers on the index were the Jardine duo - Jardine Matheson, which lost 2.36 per cent to US$51.71, and Jardine Strategic, down 2.38 per cent to US$24.59.

Regional markets were mixed.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.49 per cent and Shanghai gained 0.22 per cent, but Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1.1 per cent and Malaysia's KLCI lost 0.34 per cent.

Oanda senior market analyst for the Asia-Pacific Jeffrey Halley described Asian markets as "drifting" but showing "resilience", likely due to mostly positive data from the region and expectations of a recovery next year.