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Singapore shares were little changed, with DBS Group Holdings Ltd underperforming the market after the bank's fourth-quarter earnings missed expectations due to weak margins.
The Strait Times Index was flat, while the MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.3 percent.
DBS shares fell as much as 2.2 percent to their lowest in nearly a week. DBS posted a net profit of S$760 million ($613.5 million) for October-December against a net profit of S$731 million a year earlier. This missed an average forecast of S$810 million, according to six analysts surveyed by Reuters.
Shares of SIA Engineering Co Ltd dipped as much as 3.6 percent to a two-week low after it reported weaker-than-expected third-quarter earnings. Some 778,000 shares were traded, 2.2 times the average full-day volume over the past 30 days.
CIMB Research said the company's third-quarter net profit was 10 percent below its forecast and 6 percent below consensus due to lower fleet and project revenue.
"This is the time to book some profits off SIA Engineering on unexciting 3Q13 results and 33 percent share price outperformance since January 2012. We believe capacity growth in Changi Airport and high hangar utilisation from airframe maintenance have been factored in," CIMB said.
CIMB said SIA Engineering's valuation was "stretched" at a price-earnings ratio of 18 times for 2013, near its peak of 19 times. But CIMB maintained its 'neutral' rating on the stock, citing the dividend yield of 4.5 percent.
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