SINGAPORE - A lack of clear leads meant a listless trading session on the Singapore Exchange on Wednesday

The Straits Times Index (STI) lost 6.6 points or 0.2 per cent to 3,415.53.

Shares traded in a narrow band, staying in the black for most of the session but going up by a maximum of just eight points before a bout of selling took over in the final half an hour.

A total of 1.4 billion shares worth $1 billion were traded, a shade below the average of $1.25 billion this week.

"The lack of fresh sparks has prompted investors to take profits and wait for new signals," Mr Matthew Sherwood, the head of investment markets research at Perpetual, told Bloomberg.

Most other Asian bourses were also lower. Hong Kong dropped 1 per cent, Tokyo lost 0.6 per cent and Seoul dipped 0.2 per cent.

Shanghai bucked the trend, rising 0.5 per cent, on hopes that new stimulus measures to boost China's growth will be announced during the National People's Congress that starts on Thursday.