A week when good news battled with the bad for ascendancy put rattled investors in a gloomy frame of mind yesterday.

The downbeat mood sent the Straits Times Index down 3.26 points, or 0.12 per cent, to 2,821.70, and down 0.64 per cent for the week.

Gainers still managed to outpace losers 216 to 196, with 1.69 billion shares worth $1.32 billion traded.

While vaccine cheer and on-again hopes for a United States stimulus package kept traders hopeful earlier in the week, Brexit uncertainty and rising geopolitical risks from the US-China rift dampened the trading mood.

Weak jobs data out of the US late on Thursday, despite better-than-expected European data, also weighed on investor sentiment and underpinned a slight retreat on Wall Street overnight. The European Central Bank did not surprise with an extension of its bond purchase programme.

Regional bourses put up a mixed showing, with key indexes in Japan, China and Australia posting losses while Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Malaysia logged gains.

OCBC Bank, Singtel and Keppel Corp led losses in the local bourse.

Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust gained 1.74 per cent to $2.93. It said yesterday that it plans to acquire a suburban office property in Sydney for A$288.9 million (S$291 million), which will be its fifth investment Down Under.

Olam International gained 1.34 per cent to $1.51. The food and agri-business giant announced the issuance of 7 billion yen (S$90 million) of five-year sustainability-linked notes.

The senior notes were issued to the Development Bank of Japan via a private placement under Olam’s US$5 billion (S$6.7 billion) euro medium-term note programme.