With investors holding their breath ahead of the United States presidential election and the mega listing of Ant Group in Hong Kong and Shanghai later this week, Singapore stocks turned in a rather mixed performance yesterday.

Sentiment across the market seemed cautious, with advancers lagging behind decliners 192 to 236. However, the benchmark Straits Times Index climbed 19.29 points, or 0.8 per cent, to 2,443.13.

The biggest gainer among components of the index was Wilmar International. The agri-business giant ended the day 5.2 per cent higher at $4.25, after reporting solid third-quarter earnings and announcing a special dividend last Friday.

At the other end of the spectrum, Singapore's two leading property developers were the worst performers within the index.

CapitaLand fell 2.3 per cent to $2.51, while City Developments, which has been sinking steadily since the resignation of Mr Kwek Leng Peck from its board, fell a further 2.2 per cent to close at $6.20.

Among other stocks that were actively traded, Sembcorp Marine fell 5.8 per cent to 11.3 cents.

The beleaguered offshore and marine group said in a filing yesterday that it will release its "business update" on Nov 11.

Elsewhere, Nanofilm Technologies ended its second day of trading 3.4 per cent higher at $3.01.

Meanwhile, key market indexes around the region were firmer yesterday, despite the S&P 500's decline at the end of last week.

Japan's Nikkei 225 climbed 1.39 per cent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng and South Korea's Kospi were both up 1.46 per cent.

The Jakarta Composite Index was down 0.26 per cent, while Thailand's SET closed up 0.6 per cent.

Malaysia's KLCI slipped just 0.03 per cent.