Singapore continued to trade in positive territory on Thursday, soaring past 1.5% despite US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's warning about the central bank's ability to control inflation in the face of ongoing trade tensions.

The Straits Times Index (STI), a key benchmark for the Singapore Exchange, ranged between 3,653.08 and 3,722.53 throughout the day. It ended the session at 3,720.33, up 57.88 points or 1.58% compared to Wednesday's close.

SingPost rose 2.8%; Nio, OCBC, UOB, DBS rose 2%.

In economic news, Singapore's non-oil domestic exports or the NODX, was up 5.4% year over year in March, easing from a 7.6% increase in the previous month, according to data released by the Enterprise SG.

In company news, shares of Nam Cheong (SGX:1MZ) surged nearly 13% after the company secured multi-year offshore support vessel charter contracts worth around 317.1 million Malaysian ringgit.

Mermaid Maritime (SGX:DU4) was up nearly 3% after its subsidiary, Mermaid Subsea Services purchased four newbuild Argus electric work-class remote-operated vehicles (WROVs) from Norway-based Argus Remote Systems.

Meanwhile, shares of Olam Group (SGX:VC2) closed over 1% higher at the close after its wholly owned subsidiary, Olam International, entered into a conditional sale and purchase agreement to sell 32.41% stake in ARISE P&L to Equitane DMCC for $175 million in cash.