Daily Markets Briefing: STI up 0.47%

But an upward boost may be limited today.

The Straits Times Index (STI) ended 14.51 points or 0.47% higher to 3133.35 on Friday, taking the year-to-date performance to +8.77%.

The top active stocks were CapitaLand, which gained 3.64%; UOB, which declined 0.14%; OCBC Bank, which gained 0.84%; CityDev, which gained 5.62%; and Keppel Corp, with a 0.44% advance.

According to OCBC, this came as US stocks closed higher on a stronger-than-expected February jobs report, but major benchmarks snapped multi-week winning streaks as oil prices weighed on markets over the past five sessions.

Meanwhile, eight out of eleven S&P 500 industries ended higher. The best performer was utilities (0.80%) and the worst performer was real estate (-0.17%). The index was down 0.44% for the week.

Here are the implications on the Singapore market:

The continued gains on Wall Street Friday could bring some cheer to the local sentiment this morning, but further upside could be limited as investors stay cautious ahead of FOMC’s rate decision this week.

On the upside, we peg the initial hurdle at 3150, ahead of 3180; on the downside, we peg the immediate support at 3100 and see the next base at 3060.

Overall volume rose 12.2% with 2.6b units traded, and total value climbed 37.8% to S$1.3b, whilst average value/unit added 22.8% to S$0.52.