SINGAPORE shares eked out a modest gain on a quiet Monday as investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of the coming reporting season. The blue-chip Straits Times Index (STI) gained 0.03 per cent or 0.92 point to close at 2,809.24. Despite the index's positive showing, losers just outnumbered gainers 193 to 188.

Trading activity was rather mundane. Total volume of the day was 1.1 billion shares, or 68.9 per cent or the year-to-date daily average of 1.6 billion shares. Turnover of S$760.3 million represented 62.1 per cent of the year-to-date average of S$1.2 billion.

"Today was quiet," one trader said. "Everyone was sort of sitting and waiting, not expecting much." With the corporate results reporting season underway, some investors in the market were hovering around the pool but not yet taking the plunge.