Daily Markets Briefing: STI up 0.13%

Local bourse is unlikely to receive much of a boost today.

The Straits Times Index (STI) ended 4.18 points or 0.13% higher to 3181.45 on Monday, taking the year-to-date performance to +10.44%.

The top active stocks were DBS, which gained 0.63%; Genting Sing, which gained 3.38%; Singtel, which gained 0.26%; CapitaLand, which declined 1.60%; and Global Logistic, with a 0.36% advance.

According to OCBC Investment Research, this came as US stocks eked out gains as strength in energy shares helped to offset selling pressure sparked by geopolitical concerns, but market sentiment remained cautious going into the first-quarter earnings season.

Meanwhile, seven out of eleven S&P 500 industries ended higher, led by Energy (0.77%) and Real Estate (0.67%) whilst Telecommunication Services (-0.31%) and Financials (-0.26%) led the declines.

Here’s more from OCBC Investment Research:

The mild recovery on Wall Street overnight is unlikely to provide much of a boost to the local bourse this morning.

We expect the market to remain cautious, and keep the immediate support and resistance level at 3150 and 3200, respectively.

Overall volume tumbled 38.5% with 2.0b units traded, and total value slipped 24.8% to $0.9b, whilst average value/unit rose 22.4% to $0.47.

We note that the overall market breadth is somewhat negative, as losers outpaced gainers 1.5 to 1 though STI ended slightly higher yesterday.