Daily Markets Briefing: STI down 0.1%

Expect a lift from the continued gains on Wall Street.

The Straits Times Index (STI) ended 3.35 points or 0.1% lower to 3213.57 on Monday, taking the year-to-date performance to +11.55%.

According to SGX Market Summary, the top active stocks were DBS, which gained 0.77%, Singtel, which gained 0.27%, SATS, which declined 3.97%, OCBC Bank, which declined 1.06% and SIA, with a 1.90% fall.

This came as U.S. stocks closed higher for the third session of gains, recovering most of last week’s sharp loss as tech and industrial stocks rallied in a day marked by lighter than usual volume, OCBC Investment Research said.

Meanwhile, ten out of eleven S&P 500 industries ended higher, led by Information Technology (0.95%) and Utilities (0.90%) while Energy (-0.17%) bucked the trend.

Here's more from OCBC Investment Research:

The continued gains on Wall Street overnight could provide a lift to the local bourse this morning.

As before, we maintain the initial hurdle at 3250, ahead of 3300; on the downside, we keep the immediate support at 3200, ahead of 3170.

Overall volume climbed 2.9% with 2.0b units traded, while total value fell 6.0% to S$1.1b, and average value/unit lost 8.6% to S$0.54.