Daily Markets Briefing: STI up 1.49%

Expect muted gains today.

The Straits Times Index (STI) ended 50.07 or 1.49% higher at 3,407.02.

The top active stocks were DBS, which soared 3.61%, OCBC Bank, which rose 2.63%, UOB, which went up 2.53%, Genting Sing, which grew 1.55%, and Singtel, which increased 0.96%.

According to OCBC Investment Research (OIR), the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq posted fresh all-time highs Monday as Wall Street kicked off one of the busier periods of the quarterly earnings season, and as investors awaited a policy update from the Federal Reserve.

Four out of eleven S&P 500 industries ended higher, led by Financials (0.93%) whilst Real Estate (-1.06%) led the losses.

"Despite the gains on Wall Street overnight, we expect today’s tone to be cautious ahead of key China economic data," OIR said.