Daily Markets Briefing: STI up 0.06%

Expect some gains today.

The Straits Times Index (STI) ended 2.01 points or 0.06% higher to 3570.02, taking the year-to-date performance to +4.91%.

The top active stocks were Venture, which declined 1.55%, DBS, which declined 0.17%, UOB, which declined 1.54%, OCBC Bank, which gained 0.51% and Singtel, with a 1.18% advance.

The FTSE ST Mid Cap Index gained 0.20%, whilst the FTSE ST Small Cap Index declined 0.25%.

OCBC Investment Research noted that US stocks closed sharply higher on Thursday, with major indexes up 1% as strong results from a number of bellwethers, including technology behemoth Facebook, jolted equities into a broad advance.

Nine out of 11 S&P 500 industries ended higher, led by Information Technology (2.27%) and Consumer Discretionary (1.60%). Telecommunication Services (-3.24%) and Industrials (-0.42%) bucked the trend.

The strength on Wall Street overnight is likely to bring some cheer to local bourse today.