Daily Markets Briefing: STI up 0.13%

But don't expect much of a boost today.

The Straits Times Index (STI) ended 4.08 points or 0.13% higher to 3175.44 on Monday, taking the year-to-date performance to +10.23%.

The top active stocks were UOB, which gained 1.54%, DBS, which gained 0.73%, Singtel, which declined 0.27%, OCBC Bank, which gained 0.62% and CapitaLand, which closed unchanged.

According to OCBC Investment Research, this came as the Nasdaq finished at a record Monday while the Dow Industrials closed lower with investors looking ahead to the start of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy meeting on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, five out of eleven S&P 500 industries ended higher, led by Information Technology (0.85%) while Telecommunication Services (-0.79%) led the declines. The index was up 0.91% for the month.

Here's more from OCBC Investment Research:

The mixed reactions on Wall Street overnight are unlikely to provide much of a boost to the local bourse this morning.

We keep the initial hurdle at 3180, ahead of 3200; on the downside, we peg the immediate support at 3140, followed by the next support at 3100.

Overall volume surged 9.7% with ~2b units traded, and total value surged 43.9% to S$1.5b, while average value/unit jumped 32.2% to S$0.78.