The new market-making service extends to nearly 40 popular stocks such as Tesla, Alphabet, and Apple, and funds tracking the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, Phillip said, adding that the service was launched in response to demand from customers.

It operates from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Singapore time (0100 GMT to 0900 GMT), which is mostly outside the regular and pre- and post-market trading hours for U.S. markets that function between 0800 GMT and 0000 GMT. The minimum transaction size is $20,000 and prices will be quoted via Phillips' trading platform.

(Reporting by Rae Wee; editing by Uttaresh.V)