Daily Markets Briefing: STI down 0.89%

Expected muted earnings today.

The Straits Times Index (STI) ended 25.48 points or 0.89% lower to 2828.57 on Wednesday, taking the year-to-date performance to -1.88%.

According to OCBC, this came as U.S. stocks closed mostly lower Wednesday as Apple Inc., the largest U.S. company by market cap, tumbled, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average bucked the trend thanks to Boeing Inc., which soared on robust earnings.

Six out of eleven S&P 500 industries ended lower, led by Real Estate (-1.27%) while Financials (0.62%) led the gains.

This mixed showing, OCBC noted, is unlikely to provide any cheer to the local sentiment this morning.

Here’s more from OCBC:

Gold for Dec delivery shed US$7.00, or 0.55%, to close at US$1266.60/ounce while Dec Silver slipped 15 cents, or 0.87%, to settle at US$17.63/ounce.

We expect the STI to hold around 2800 to 2860 in the near term, and probably even 2725 to 2880, as investors awaiting for more earning results to be announced.

Overall volume shrank 7.8% with 1.7b units traded, and the total value dipped 3.6% to S$0.75b; while average value/unit jumped 4.6% to S$0.44.