Daily Markets Briefing: STI down 0.03%

Will today's tone improve?

OCBC Investment Research said:

Further pull-backs by the US indices overnight and the poor Nikkei start (down 1.2% now) are likely to spook the local bourse to a negative opening this morning.

As a recap, the STI has been drifting sideways over the past two months due to a lack of catalysts; the 3160 immediate support and the 3220 initial resistance is still very intact at the moment.

And with today’s tone likely to turn a tad more downside biased, we could see the index slipping gradually towards the 3160 base again.

Below that, the next support lies at the 3120 key trough. On the upside, 3260 (key peaks) is the subsequent key obstacle to overcome.

Singapore Exchange said:

The Straits Times Index (STI) ended 1.09 points lower or -0.03% to 3,187.67, taking the year-to-date performance to +0.65%. The FTSE ST Mid Cap Index declined -0.50% while the FTSE ST Small Cap Index gained +0.20%. The top active stocks were SingTel (-0.80%), DBS (unchanged), Noble Group (-0.93%), UOB (+0.19%) and Ezra (+8.99%).