Daily Markets Briefing: STI up 0.86%

But limited upside is expected today.

The Straits Times Index (STI) ended 24.88 points or 0.86% higher to 2904.02 on Wednesday, taking the year-to-date performance to +0.74%.

According to OCBC Investment Research, this came as the Dow industrials held on to a fractional gain, but other major indexes finished lower Wednesday as an early session rally led by a surge in the energy sector sputtered out in late trade.

Eight out of eleven S&P 500 industries ended lower, with Utilities (-3.18%) and Telecommunication Services (-2.12%) leading the declines while Energy (4.82%) led the gains.

"The mixed showing on Wall Street overnight is unlikely to provide much of a boost to the local bourse this morning," the brokerage firm said.

Here's more from OCBC:

We note that the daily RSI is now just shade below the overbought region, although the daily MACD continues to look positive.

As such we could see some healthy profit-taking should the index fail to clear the immediate 2925 hurdle, or fail to sustain itself above the immediate 2880 support.

Overall volume jumped 53.5% with 2.9b units traded, and the total value surged 152.5% to S$2.5; while average value/unit rose 64.5% to S$0.87.