Daily Markets Briefing: STI up 0.1%

Expect more cheers in the local bourse today.

The Straits Times Index (STI) ended 3.13 points or 0.1% higher to 3234.37 on Thursday, taking the year-to-date performance to +12.27%.

According to SGX Daily Market Summary, the top active stocks were Singtel, which declined 0.53%, DBS, which gained 0.19%, Genting Sing, which gained 1.29%, OCBC Bank, which gained 0.38% and CapitaLand, with a 1.73% advance.

This came as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite closed at fresh records. More so, OCBC Investment Research said U.S. stocks advanced for a sixth straight session, thanks in part to big gains in shares of Best Buy after quarterly results.

Here's more from OCBC Investment Research:

Further gains on Wall Street overnight could bring more cheer to the local bourse today.

We expect the market to trade between 3200 and 3250 in the near term, and maintain the next hurdle and support at 3300 and 3170 respectively.

Overall volume rose 3.1% with 2.0b units traded, and total value climbed 17.7% to S$1.1b, and average value/unit jumped 14.2% to S$0.57.