Daily Markets Briefing: STI down 0.58%

Expect some bad news today.

The Straits Times Index (STI) ended 20.6 points or 0.58% lower to 3521.31, taking the year-to-date performance to +3.48%.

The top active stocks were DBS, which declined 0.80%, OCBC Bank, which declined 1.14%, Singtel, which closed unchanged, UOB, which declined 1.10% and CapitaLand, with a 0.26% advance.

The FTSE ST Mid Cap Index gained 0.03%, whilst the FTSE ST Small Cap Index declined 0.19%.

OCBC Investment research noted that US stock benchmarks also finished lower driven by worries over the possibility of a partial government shutdown. 

Eight out of eleven S&P 500 industries declined with the best performers in the telecommunications services, which rose 0.23%, and information technology, which rose 0.17%, whilst the worst performers are in real estate, which fell 0.98%, and energy, which fell 0.80%.

"The pullback from Wall Street overnight could keep local sentiment cautious today," OCBC said.