Market Update: STI on track for best first quarter in nine years, closes at 3,190

The Straits Times Index ends on Tuesday up by 15.32 points or 0.48% at 3,190.89, moving an inch closer to having its best first quarter in nine years.

About 1.94-billion securities worth S$1.45-billion changed hands. Advacers outnumbered stock losers, 288 to 210.

Top performers for the day were Thai Beverage with 2.72% or S$0.02 gain, Mapletree Commercial Trust up by 1.90% or S$0.04, and Genting Singapore which went higher by about 1.63% or S$0.015.

Most Asian stocks also logged gains as investors continued to cheer on the vaccine rollouts.

Meanwhile, most US stocks drifted lower on Tuesday tracking a volatile session which was started by the sudden unwinding of a hedge fund run by a marquee investor.

S&P 500 shed about 0.32% or 12.54 points at 3,958.55. NASDAQ also went lower by 0.11% or 14.25 points closing at 13,045.40 while Dow Jones Industrial had a downturn by about 104.41 points or 0.31% reaching 33,066.96.

The London blue-chip index, on the other hand, climbed, boosted boosted by gains in banks and miners on investor optimism over a vaccine-led economic recovery.

FTSE 100 closed up by 0.53% or 35.95 points ending at 6,772.12. FTSE 250 also went higher by 138.90 points or 0.65% closing at 21,574.44.