Daily Markets Briefing: STI down 0.15%

Today’s tone is expected to remain cautious.

The Straits Times Index (STI) ended 4.94 or 0.15% lower at 3,218.77.

The top active stocks were DBS, which rose 0.73%, Singtel, which went down 0.64%, UOB, which fell 0.12%, ST Engineering, which crashed 2.99%, and CapitaLand, which grew 0.3%.

The FTSE Mid Cap fell 0.26% whilst the FTSE Small Cap rose 0.38%.

According to OCBC Investment Research (OIR), US stocks closed higher Wednesday amid developments in US international trade relations that were being viewed as positive by investors who have become increasingly sensitive to tariff headlines.

Eight out of eleven S&P 500 industries ended higher, led by Communication Services (2.11%) and Information Technology (0.98%) whilst Financials (-0.48%) and Materials (-0.24%) led the declines.

“Despite the gains on Wall Street overnight, we expect the overall sentiment to remain cautious amidst the US-China trade tensions,” OIR said.