Singapore shares fell to a near six-month low by midday, as poor factory data from China added to concerns that Europe's worsening debt crisis is likely to hurt global economic growth.

Investors were also cautious ahead of U.S. non-farm payroll data due out later on Friday.

At 0457 GMT, the benchmark Straits Times Index was 0.5 percent lower at 2,758.02, recovering from an intraday low of 2,737.99, the lowest since Jan. 16.

The fall was largely because factory data from China came in below expectations, causing companies with exposure to China such as CapitaLand to underperform the market, said Ng Kian Teck, lead analyst at SIAS Research.

CapitaLand shares were down 1.2 percent at S$2.51.

China's purchasing managers index for May, an indicator of the country's industrial activity, fell more than expected to 50.4 percent, down from April's 13-month high.

"Tonight, there will be quite a lot of important numbers coming out from the U.S., particularly to do with the non-farm payrolls and unemployment rate for May. This would also largely determine how the market would perform next week, especially for Singapore," Ng said.

"So I think most of the investors are still standing on the sidelines and are waiting for more news to be out before they adjust their portfolio."

1257 (0457 GMT)

(Reporting by Leonard How in Singapore; leonard.how@thomsonreuters.com)