Daily Markets Briefing: STI ends flat

Can Wall Street's firmer close boost index?

According to OCBC Investment Research:

The local market should get a boost from the firmer Wall Street close Friday, especially after five down sessions (closed flat Friday).

The daily MACD also appears to be bottoming out just above the centre line, while the index just about managed to hold above 3157 (38.2% retracement of 2990-3260 rally).

However, the index still needs to convincingly clear the strong 3200 hurdle; otherwise, we could see further downside risk. Note that the overall volume has dwindled quite a bit with the start of the year-end school holidays.

The immediate support remains at 3157, ahead of 3100; but a break of both could send the index back towards the 3051-3071 gap.