Singapore stocks were up 17.81 points, or 0.57 per cent, higher at midday, amid a broader rise among Asian bourses.

Asian stocks are paring their biggest slump in three months, after United States retail sales topped estimates and the World Bank raised its global growth forecast.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index advanced 0.3 per cent to 138.98 as of 12:29 pm in Hong Kong after falling 1.5 per cent on Tuesday, the most since Sept 30.

"We expect stronger global GDP growth," said Mr Stephen Corry, the Hong Kong-based chief investment strategist at LGT Group, a private banking and asset-management firm that oversees about US$115 billion, in an interview with Bloomberg.

"The outlook for equities is pretty rosy and profits still have the potential to go higher."

The World Bank sees the world economy expanding 3.2 per cent this year, compared with a June projection of 3 per cent and up from 2.4 per cent in 2013.

The forecast for the richest nations was raised to 2.2 per cent from 2 per cent. Part of the increase reflects improvement in the 18-country euro area, with the US ahead of developed peers, growing twice as fast as Japan.