Daily Markets Briefing: STI down 0.26%

Expect a pullback today.

The Straits Times Index (STI) ended 7.94 points or 0.26% lower to 2993 on Thursday, taking the year-to-date performance to +3.83%.

The top active stocks were Global Logistic, which gained 3.98%, DBS, which gained 0.44%, Singtel, which closed unchanged, UOB, which closed unchanged and OCBC Bank, with a 0.54% fall.

According to OCBC, this came as U.S. stocks rebounded from a sharp morning selloff, but still closed lower, with the Nasdaq snapping a seven-day winning streak as investors paused before the start of earnings season and a lack of policy detail in President-elect Donald Trump’s first formal news conference a day ago.

Meanwhile, seven out of eleven S&P 500 industries ended lower, with Financials (-0.74%) leading the declines while Telecommunication Services (0.63%) led the gains.

"The weakness on Wall Street overnight could spark a similar correction in the local bourse today, potentially extending the pullback yesterday," OCBC said.

Here's more from OCBC:

The weakness on Wall Street overnight could spark a similar correction in the local bourse today, potentially extending the pullback yesterday.

On the upside, we peg the initial resistance at 3000, ahead of 3025. Again, the ability of the index to breach and sustain itself convincingly above 3000 is crucial. Failure which could see the STI slipping back to 2970.

While overall volume shrank 0.9% to 1.7b units traded, total value gained 3.0% to S$1.2b, and average value/unit rose 3.9% to S$0.69.