Daily Markets Briefing: STI up 0.08%

Expect bad news today due to uncertainties in trade policy.

The Straits Times Index (STI) ended 2.79 points or 0.08% higher to 3430.76, taking the year-to-date performance to +0.82%. 

The top active stocks were DBS, which declined 0.66%, Singtel, which gained 0.59%, UOB, which declined 0.36%, Genting Sing, which gained 0.93% and OCBC Bank, with a 0.39% fall.

The FTSE ST Mid Cap Index gained 0.14%, whilst the FTSE ST Small Cap Index declined 0.16%.

OCBC Investment Research noted that US stocks fell sharply Monday, in the latest example of heavy intraday volatility driven by both uncertainties surrounding trade policy and weakness in the large-capitalization technology and internet sectors.

All 11 S&P 500 industries ended lower, with Consumer Discretionary (-2.83%) and Information Technology (-2.48%) leading the declines. Utilities (-0.75%) and Real Estate (-1.27%) declined the least.

"The broad-based selloff across all sectors on Wall Street overnight that was driven by uncertainty in trade policies and weakness in large-cap tech stocks will weigh on the local sentiment today," OCBC said.