Singapore's premier fair for international contemporary art kicked off on Wednesday night with unusually buoyant sales for homegrown artists.

Over 7,000 people from all over the world were invited to the vernissage for Art Stage Singapore.

The ticketed fair at the Marina Bay Sands Exhibition and Convention Centre opens to the public on Thursday and runs till Sunday. More than 158 galleries from here and overseas are represented in this fourth edition of the annual fair.

Within hours of the opening on Wednesday night, one of Singapore's hottest young painters, Ruben Pang, had sold all nine of his works. Priced between $3,000 and $9,000, they were sold by Singapore's Chan Hampe Galleries.

Another emerging artist Sarah Choo, 23, represented by gallerist Vera Wijaya of Galerie Slogan & Art, also sold all her photography works within hours of the fair's opening. She sold five photography works, priced at $6,500 each.

Both artists drew mainly Singapore-based buyers, the galleries said.

Veteran artist Milenko Prvacki's large 300 x 400cm acrylic on linen piece, Crossroad, was the top-selling artwork on Wednesday by a local artist at $120,000.

Other homegrown artists whose works sold quickly were the late painter Chua Ek Kay and sculptor Han Sai Por.

Two of their works, priced at $5,200 and $20,000 respectively, were among the first pieces to be sold by the Singapore Tyler Print Institute, which had a booth selling Singaporean and international works.