SINGAPORE shares closed higher on Wednesday, even as cautious trading prevailed in major regional markets with investors awaiting the outcome of the US Federal Reserve's policy meeting.

The Straits Times Index (STI) rose 0.1 per cent or 4.14 points to close at 3,109.65, after trading in the red earlier in the day.

Elsewhere, regional markets mostly ended lower on Wednesday. The Kospi in South Korea fell 0.6 per cent; Australia's ASX 200 slipped 0.5 per cent. Other key indices in Japan, Shanghai and Hong Kong finished flat, each moving under 0.05 per cent on Wednesday.

Stephen Innes, chief global markets strategist at Axi, said: "Asia equity markets (are) generally treading water with light turnover, indicating a lack of conviction." He added that this seemed reasonable as it was going to be hard for the Federal Open Market Committee to please everyone. The US Fed's two-day monetary policy meeting concludes later on Wednesday.

On the Singapore bourse, Venture Corp emerged as the top STI performer on Wednesday, with its shares rising 3.4 per cent to S$19.95.

The other counters in the top five were real estate investment trusts (Reits) including Ascendas Reit, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust and Keppel DC Reit. Their units rose 2.7 per cent, 2.3 per cent and 2.2 per cent respectively.

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Yangzijiang Shipbuilding, the top STI gainer on Tuesday, performed the worst among index constituents on Wednesday, falling 3.9 per cent to S$1.24.

Across the broader market, gainers outnumbered decliners 220 to 216 after 2.28 billion securities worth S$1.45 billion changed hands.

Oceanus Group was the most actively traded counter by volume on Wednesday. It fell 4.8 per cent to 4 Singapore cents, with 229.2 million shares having changed hands.