SINGAPORE shares pared gains earlier in the day to resume trading in negative territory on Tuesday afternoon, with the Straits Times Index losing 0.1 per cent, or 3.40 points to 3,121.05 as at 1pm.

Losers outnumbered gainers 156 to 119, after about 461.7 million shares worth S$277.4 million changed hands.

Among the most heavily traded by volume, Golden Agri-Resources gained 2.4 per cent, or 0.5 cent to 21.5 Singapore cents, with 46.6 million shares traded, while Y Ventures was up 0.9 per cent, or 0.1 cent to 11.3 Singapore cents, with 17.6 million shares traded.

Banking stocks were mixed: DBS lost 0.2 per cent, or four cents to S$24.96, United Overseas Bank slipped 0.4 per cent, or 11 cents to S$26.01, and OCBC Bank gained 0.2 per cent, or two cents to S$10.80.

Other active index stocks included Wilmar International which dropped 1.1 per cent, or four cents to S$3.60, and CapitaLand Mall Trust, which shed 0.8 per cent, or two cents to S$2.61.

Elsewhere, Asian equities were mixed on Tuesday, as traders weighed the next step in trade negotiations between the world's two largest economies, and investors looked forward to a key Brexit summit, along with a slew of US bank earnings this week.

Japan's Topix index rose 1.5 per cent as at the lunch break in Tokyo, while Australian stocks added 0.1 per cent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dipped 0.1 per cent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.6 per cent.