Daily Markets Briefing: STI up 0.19%

Expect muted gains today.

The Straits Times Index (STI) ended 6.18 or 0.19% higher at 3,332.04.

The top active stocks were DBS, which grew 0.56%, SingTel, which dipped 0.95%, UOB, which went up 0.19%, Venture, which jumped 3.92%, and OCBC Bank, which increased 0.17%.

According to OCBC Investment Research (OIR), US stocks closed higher, with the Nasdaq finishing above 8,000 for the first time in six months, as investors parsed a fresh batch of corporate earnings for clues on the broader economy.

Seven out of eleven S&P 500 industries ended higher, led by Financials (1.37%) and Energy (0.64%) whilst Real Estate (-2.38%) and Health Care (-2.03%) led the losses.

“The positive performance of the US indices could provide some confidence to the local sentiment, but we think it would likely depend on the Chinese macro data due for release today,” OIR said.