Daily Markets Briefing: STI down 1.31%

Th overall tone of the market is expected to be cautious.

The Straits Times Index (STI) ended 43.52 points or 1.31% lower to 3279.72 on Friday, taking the year-to-date performance to +13.85%.

The top active stocks that day were DBS, which declined 2.16%; Wilmar Intl, which declined 6.43%; Singtel, which closed unchanged; Global Logistic, which gained 0.62%; and OCBC Bank, with a 1.06% fall.

OCBC Investment Research said this came as the U.S. stocks closed higher, as Wall Street clawed back from a sharp decline in the previous session but the market still posted a weekly loss on lingering geopolitical uncertainties.

Meanwhile, five out of eleven S&P 500 industries ended higher, led by Information Technology (0.75%) while Energy (-0.69%) led the losses. The index was down 1.43% for the week.

"The recovery on Wall Street Friday could provide some reprieve to the local market, but we still expect the overall tone to remain cautious," the brokerage firm said.