Daily Markets Briefing: STI up 0.44%

Don’t expect a boost today.

The Straits Times Index (STI) ended 13.8 points or 0.44% higher to 3147.15 on Monday, taking the year-to-date performance to +9.25%.

The top active stocks were Singtel, which gained 0.76%; UOB, which gained 0.47%; CityDev, which gained 3.45%; DBS, which gained 0.95%; and Keppel Corp, with a 1.6% fall.

According to OCBC, this came as US stocks were little changed, with the Dow industrials closing slightly lower ahead of a widely expected rate hike from the Federal Reserve this Wednesday.

Meanwhile, eight out of eleven S&P 500 industries ended higher. The best performer was materials (0.30%) and the worst performer was healthcare (-0.15%).

Here are the implications on Singapore:

The muted closing on Wall Street overnight is unlikely to provide much of a boost to the local bourse today.

We expect the market to be largely range-bound between 3100 and 3150 for now; and peg the next resistance and support level at 3180 and 3060, respectively.

Overall volume shrank 14.5% with 2.2b units traded, and total value fell 16.2% to S$1.1b, whilst average value/unit dipped 2% to S$0.51.