Daily Markets Briefing: STI up 0.49%

Expect local market to take some gains today.

STI ended 13.99 points or 0.49% higher to 2844.62, taking the year-to-date performance to -1.32%.

This comes as US stocks continued to show robust gains on Wednesday, boosted by a rally in the energy sector and stronger-than-expected quarterly results from Morgan Stanley.

According to OCBC Investment Research, eight of the 11 S&P 500 industries ended higher, led by Energy (1.36%) while Consumer Staples (-0.67%) led the losses.

"Continued strength on Wall Street overnight should keep local sentiment fairly upbeat, potentially extending STI’s 4-days winning streak," the brokerage firm stated.

Here's more from OCBC:

Nov WTI Crude added US$1.31, or 2.60%, to close at US$51.60/barrel while Dec Brent was up 99 cents, or 1.92%, to end at US$52.67/barrel.

Gold for Dec delivery gained US$7.00, or 0.55%, to close at US$1269.90/ounce while Dec Silver added 3 cents, or 0.14%, to settle at US$17.66/ounce.

Overall volume dipped 8.09% with 1.94b units traded, and the total value dropped 2.4% to S$0.89b; while average value/unit rose 6.2% to S$0.46.