Singapore shares closed higher on Friday, tracking regional gains as markets responded well to the White House's confirmation of President Donald Trump meeting with Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, next week.

The Straits Times Index (STI), a key benchmark for the Singapore Exchange, ranged between 4,422.21 and 4,443.58 throughout the day. It ended the session at 4,422.21, up 5.94 points or 0.1% compared to Thursday's close.

In economic news, Singapore's manufacturing output increased 16.1% year-on-year in September, backed by increased outputs from several clusters, according to data from EDB Singapore.

In company news, shares of Samudera Shipping Line (SGX:S56) were up nearly 2% at the close as it established a new company named Samudera Japan K.K. in Japan.

ST Engineering (SGX:S63) was up over 1% as it secured contracts worth SG$4.9 billion during the third quarter of the year.

Meanwhile, Keppel DC REIT's (SGX:AJBU) distribution per unit during the first nine months ended Sept. 30 was up 8.8% to SG$0.0767 from SG$0.0705 a year earlier.

STI up 0.1%; Yangzijiang Shipbuilding rose 4%; Seatrium, ST Engineering up 1%; SingPost fell 2%; Nio fell 1%.