Daily Markets Briefing: STI up 0.39%

But don’t expect any boost today.

The Straits Times Index (STI) ended 12.4 points or 0.39% higher to 3187.51 on Monday, taking the year-to-date performance to +10.65%.

The top active stocks were Singtel, which gained 0.26%; CapitaLand, which gained 1.10%; ThaiBev, which declined 0.53%; DBS, which closed unchanged; and UOB, with a 0.05% advance.

According to OCBC Investment Research, this came as US stocks closed lower, but off session lows, to kick off the second quarter as disappointing vehicle sales and lacklustre economic data amplified concerns that lofty equity valuations will not be buttressed by commensurately strong corporate quarterly results in coming weeks.

Meanwhile, seven out of eleven S&P 500 industries ended lower, with Consumer Discretionary (-0.46%) leading the declines whilst Telecommunication Services (0.40%) led the gains.

Here are the implications on Singapore:

The continued weakness on Wall Street overnight is unlikely to bring any inspiration to the local sentiment today.

As before, the immediate resistance lies at 3200, ahead of 3270; on the downside, we keep the immediate support at 3150, followed by 3100.

Overall volume shrank 10.1% with 2.3b units traded, and total value fell 32.1% to $1.1b, whilst average value/unit dipped 24.5% to $0.46.