Daily Markets Briefing: STI down 0.53%

Local bourse could kick off the week with a muted start.

The Straits Times Index (STI) ended 16.77 points or 0.53% lower to 3169.24 on Thursday, taking the year-to-date performance to +10.01%.

The top active stocks were Singtel, which declined 1.31%; DBS, which declined 0.83%; SPH, which declined 1.71%; UOB, which declined 0.68%; and CapitaLand, which closed unchanged.

This came as the US stock market was closed due to Good Friday, OCBC Investment Research said.

Here's more from OCBC Investment Research:

With Wall Street closed last Friday, the local bourse could get off to a muted start.

We expect the investors to remain cautious amidst intensifying geopolitical jitters and keep the initial hurdle at 3200. Above it, we peg the next resistance at 3250; on the downside, we peg the immediate support at 3150, ahead of 3100.

Overall volume shrank 7.4% with 2.2b units traded, and total value fell 28.4% to $1.0b, with average value/unit dropping 22.7% to $0.45.