Daily Markets Briefing: STI down 0.28%

Don't expect any support coming from the Wall Street today.

The Straits Times Index (STI) ended 9.19 points or 0.28% lower to 3228.62 on Thursday, taking the year-to-date performance to +12.08%.

The top active stocks were DBS, which declined 1.82%, UOB, which gained 0.26%, OCBC Bank, which declined 0.20%, Sembcorp Marine, which gained 9.15% and Noble, with a 6.50% advance.

OCBC Investment Research noted that this came as stocks finished little changed, after a choppy session of trade as the energy sector tumbled in sync with a drop in crude oil and House Republicans took a step to begin rolling back Dodd-Frank reforms and Obamacare.

Meanwhile, eight out of eleven S&P 500 industries ended higher, led by Consumer Staples (0.78%) while Energy (-1.90%) led the declines.

Here's more from OCBC Investment Research:

The muted closing on Wall Street overnight is unlikely to provide much of a boost to the local bourse this morning.

We expect the market to trade between 3200 and 3260; and peg the next hurdle and support level at 3300 and 3170 respectively.

Overall volume jumped 44.8% with 2.2b units traded, and total value rose 2.2% to S$1.2b, while average value/unit lost 29.4% to S$0.55.