Daily Markets Briefing: STI up 0.52%

The gains on Wall Street could bring some cheer to the local markets.

The Straits Times Index (STI) ended 16.8 points or 0.52% higher to 3263.79 on Tuesday, taking the year-to-date performance to +13.30%.

The top active stocks today were Singtel, which gained 0.27%; DBS, which gained 0.24%; CapitaLand, which closed unchanged; Global Logistic, which gained 0.31%; and Wilmar Intl, with a 1.61% advance.

OCBC Investment Research said U.S. stocks closed higher Tuesday, with the Dow industrials and the Nasdaq turning in their best session in months, as a surge in appetite for technology shares and health-care stocks underlined a measure of bullishness returning to markets after a rough patch.

Meanwhile, ten out of eleven S&P 500 industries ended higher, led by Information Technology (1.45%) and Materials (1.20%) while Real Estate (-0.11%) bucked the trend.

"The gains on Wall Street overnight could bring some cheer to the local sentiment today," OCBC Investment Research said.