Singapore shares were firmly in the green at the close on Friday, echoing investor sentiment that looked beyond geopolitical tensions, and amid another busy day for corporate earnings updates.

The Straits Times Index (STI), a key benchmark for the Singapore Exchange, ranged between 5,644.56 and 5,700.07 throughout the day. It ended the session at 5,698.43, up 59.44 points or 1.05% compared to Thursday's close.

DBS (SGX:D05), the exchange's biggest company by market cap, helped drive gains as it closed 1.67% in the green.

"DBS Group Holdings (DBS) reported a record net profit of S$3,079m for 2Q26 (+9% yoy and +5% qoq), which was above our expectation of S$2,821m," UOB Kay Hian said in a note, with analysts keeping the stock at buy with a price target of SG$80. "We raised our net profit forecasts by 3.9% for 2026 and 3.5% for 2027 due to stable NIM starting 2H26 and higher non-interest income."

Also in earnings news: Elite UK REIT's (SGX:MXNU) was up over 3% as its distribution per unit moved up by 0.6% during the first half to 0.0155 pound sterling from 0.0154 pounds a year earlier. Meanwhile, AvePoint's (SGX:AVP) shares closed over 1% lower as its net income attributable to common stockholders for the second quarter of the year surged to $27.6 million from $2.9 million a year earlier.