Singapore shares edged lower on Monday, dragged down by losses in Sembcorp Marine which hit a six-week low after posting lower-than-expected first-quarter earnings.

The benchmark Straits Times Index was down 0.2% at 3,245.69 by 1:06 p.m. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 0.3%.

Shares of Sembcorp Marine fell 2.5% to an intra-day low of $3.96, their lowest since March 21, after the offshore drilling rig builder posted a 3.1% increase in first-quarter net profit, which nonetheless undershot market expectations.

CIMB downgraded its rating on Sembcorp Marine to “hold” and cut its target price to $4.30 from $5.10, citing a shortfall in ship repair and rig building revenue.

“Though 1Q is a seasonally weaker quarter, we believe subsequent ramp-up may not be as strong as we had expected,” the brokerage said in a research note.

“The sluggish shipping market may cap volume growth in ship repair.”

The index was also weighed down by losses in the real estate sector. Losses were led by Global Logistics Properties and City Development which fell 1.4% and 0.5%, respectively.

Among other stocks, Tiger Airways Holdings plunged as much as 9.2% to $0.395, its lowest in nearly two months. The budget airline warned on Friday of a bleak outlook and reported a net loss of $95.5 million for the quarter ended March, up from a loss of $15.4 million a year ago.

Among stocks that gained, transport operator SMRT Corp rose 3.2% after the company said it had submitted a proposal on rail financing to the government, according to local media reports.

The proposal would allow the government to take ownership of rail assets while leasing them out to operators like SMRT. This would free operators from huge capital expenditures on asset replacement.

Both CIMB and OCBC have upgraded SMRT to “hold”.