Local stocks headed north yesterday, in line with most regional markets, as investors awaited the release of US job data overnight.

The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.9 per cent or 27.26 points to close at 3,200.26 but it still ended the week 0.6 per cent lower after weakness in earlier trading sessions.

Losers outnumbered gainers 249 to 243 after 2.01 billion shares worth $1.5 billion changed hands.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) soared to the top of the STI performance table, up 2.3 per cent to $4.95.

The local banks were among the top active counters by value: DBS Bank climbed 1 per cent to $29.86, UOB rose 2.1 per cent to $26.58 and OCBC gained 1.3 per cent to $12.56, posting a record net profit for the first quarter that was more than double its level a year earlier.

Just two counters on the STI ended lower. Mapletree Logistics Trust fell 0.5 per cent to $1.98 and Mapletree Industrial Trust slipped 0.7 per cent to $2.77.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets were mostly higher ahead of the US job report, with expectations for the data to reaffirm signs of recovery.

IG market strategist Yeap Jun Rong noted that the United States has recovered 62 per cent of the jobs lost to Covid-19, and a potential one million addition in Friday's report could drive this to 67 per cent. "If this rate continues, the US may potentially recover all job loss from Covid-19 by the end of this year," he added.

Shares in Tokyo and Seoul ended trading higher, with the Nikkei 225 climbing 0.1 per cent, and the Kospi gaining 0.6 per cent. Australia's ASX 200 rose 0.3 per cent and the KLCI in Malaysia was up 0.6 per cent.

But the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong slipped 0.1 per cent, amid tensions between China and the West.