Asian equity markets turned lower on Tuesday after a gauge of Chinese manufacturing plunged to an 11-month low in March, while the euro was boosted by hopes of a breakthrough in Greece's bailout talks with Germany.
Comments from the US Federal Reserve's vice chairman suggesting interest rates would rise slower than expected put further downward pressure on the dollar.
Shanghai - which rose Monday for a ninth straight session to a near seven year high - sank 0.60 per cent, while Hong Kong lost 0.33 per cent.
Tokyo shed 0.19 per cent and Seoul was 0.11 per cent lower. Sydney was flat.
Global markets have been on a broad uptrend since the Fed on Wednesday tempered talk of an early summer rate hike by saying there were still weaknesses in the US economy.
However, traders retreated to the sidelines on Tuesday after HSBC's preliminary purchasing managers' index (PMI) suggested manufacturing activity saw a surprise contraction in March.
SHARES in the local bourse opened higher on Tuesday with the benchmark Straits Times Index gaining 5.4 points or 0.2 per cent to 3,415.5.
Some 51 million shares worth S$104 million were done as at 9.04 am, with 87 counters up, and 32 counters down.
The local market opened higher despite moderate falls in US stock indices overnight; the Dow lost 0.1 per cent while the S&P 500 fell 0.2 per cent and the Nasdaq slipped 0.3 per cent.
Over in Europe, concerns over Greece's debt talks led to falls across many major markets.
THERE were no surprises in Monday's session at Singapore Exchange, the Straits Times Index first rising 18 points to an intraday high of 3,430 in response to Friday's bounce on Wall Street but eventually ending with a nett loss of 2.31 points at 3,410.13 in line with a reversal in Hong Kong and a weak opening for Europe that indicated a likely soft Monday for the US market.
Turnover was a modest 950 million units worth S$957.6 million and excluding warrants there were 218 rises against 186 falls.
Brokers said the passing of Singapore's first prime minister Lee Kuan Yew had little, if no impact on the market.