Daily Markets Briefing: STI up 0.22%
Trade relations continue to weigh down investor sentiment.
The Straits Times Index (STI) ended 7.46 points or 0.22% higher to 3449.96, taking the year-to-date performance to +1.38%.
The top active stocks were DBS, which gained 0.51%, Hongkong Land USD, which declined 0.43%, UOB, which gained 1.02%, Singtel, which declined 0.59%, and OCBC Bank, with a 0.31% advance.
The FTSE ST Mid Cap Index gained 0.06%, whilst the FTSE ST Small Cap Index rose 0.26%.
According to OCBC Investment Research, US stocks pared most of the day’s gains in the final minutes of trading, closing only slightly higher Monday following news reports that the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided the office of Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer.
Six out of eleven S&P 500 industries ended higher, led by Health Care (0.93%) and Information Technology (0.78%) while Telecommunication Services (-1.17%) and Industrials (-0.34%) led the declines.
"Despite the recovery on Wall Street overnight, we expect the local sentiment to remain cautious today as trade relations remain in focus," OCBC said.