Daily Markets Briefing: STI up 0.54%

Can the index sustain this?

According to OCBC, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite closed at new records on Tuesday while the Dow Jones Industrial Average resumed its march toward the psychologically-important 20,000, finishing less than 90 points away from the elusive milestone.

Nine out of eleven S&P 500 industries ended higher, with Materials (2.53%) leading the gains while Telecommunication Services (-2.67%) led the declines.

Here's more from OCBC:

The rally on Wall Street overnight could make local sentiment fairly buoyant today, potentially extending the gains in the previous session.

As a recap, the STI managed to take out its initial hurdle at 3040 yesterday, but it remains to be seen if the index is able to sustain convincingly above this level. Failure which could see the index easing back towards 3000.

On the upside, we peg the new hurdle at 3065, ahead of the key resistance at 3100; on the downside, we peg the immediate support at 3000, ahead of 2940.

Overall volume rose 7.6% with 2.3b units traded, while total value jumped 36.3% to S$1.3b, and average value/unit gained 26.7% to S$0.57.