SINGAPORE shares resumed trading extending their advance on Wednesday afternoon, with the Straits Times Index up 1 per cent, or 32.35 points to 3,188.06 as at 1pm.

This came even as Wall Street closed mostly flat overnight, with a decline in tech shares weighing on stocks.

On the Singapore bourse, advancers outnumbered decliners 191 to 117, after about 662 million shares worth S$561 million changed hands.

Among the most heavily traded by volume, YZJ Shipbuilding climbed 4 per cent, or four Singapore cents to S$1.05, with 38.1 million shares traded, while Tee International lost 13.5 per cent, or 0.5 cent to 3.2 cents, with 17.3 million shares traded.

The banking trio all posted gains with United Overseas Bank up 2.3 per cent, or 60 cents to S$26.37, DBS advancing 1.5 per cent, or 37 cents to S$25.32, and OCBC Bank adding 0.9 per cent, or 10 cents to S$10.95.

Other active index stocks included Sembcorp Industries which rose 3.3 per cent, or seven cents to S$2.22 and Singapore Press Holdings which gained 2.5 per cent, or five cents to S$2.09.

A laggard from the index, however, was SingTel which lost 0.6 per cent, two cents to S$3.21.

Elsewhere, Asian equities extended gains, as traders look ahead to key central bank meetings.

The European Central Bank is widely expected to cut interest rates and detail plans for stimulus measures when it concludes its meeting on Thursday. Next week, investors also expect the Federal Reserve to deliver a 25 basis-point rate cut.

Japan's Topix rose 1.3 per cent as at 12.02pm, while the Shanghai Composite was little changed.

South Korea's Kospi gained 0.8 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 1.4 per cent.