Daily Markets Briefing: STI up 0.19%

Wall Street's weakness is unlikely to boost the local market today.

The Straits Times Index (STI) ended 6.03 points or 0.19% higher to 3210.82 on Wednesday, taking the year-to-date performance to +11.46%.

According to the market summary released by Singapore Exchange, the top active stocks were DBS, which declined 0.63%, JMH USD, which declined 0.14%, Wilmar Intl, which declined 1.94%, OCBC Bank, which gained 0.77% and Singtel, with a 0.27% advance.

OCBC Investment Research said this came as US stocks closed lower, but off their worst levels of the session, notching gains for the month as a slump in bank shares and a mixed reading of economic reports weighed on investor sentiment.

Meanwhile, seven out of eleven S&P 500 industries ended lower, led by Financials (-0.80%) while Utilities (0.46%) led the gains.

Here's more from the brokerage firm:

The continued weakness on Wall Street overnight is unlikely to bring much of a boost to the local bourse this morning.

On the upside, the initial hurdle is pegged at 3250, ahead of 3300. On the downside, the immediate support lies at 3200, followed by the next support level at 3170.

Overall volume surged 95.2% with 2.2b units traded, and total value jumped 218.1% to S$1.9b, while average value/unit rose 63.0% to S$0.87.