Daily Markets Briefing: STI up 0.63%

Expect some good news today.

The Straits Times Index (STI) ended 22.65 points or 0.63% higher to 3592.08, taking the year-to-date performance to +5.56%.

The top active stocks today were DBS, which gained 1.51%, Keppel Corp, which gained 4.83%, Sembcorp Marine, which gained7.53%, Singtel, which declined 0.28% and OCBC Bank, with a 0.61% advance.

The FTSE ST Mid Cap Index gained 0.34%, while the FTSE ST Small Cap Index rose 0.09%.

OCBC Investment Research noted that gains on Wall Street overnight could continue to bring some cheer to the local bourse today.

Overall volume jumped 39.0%, with 2.6b units traded and total value rose 28.8% to S$1.8b, whilst average value/unit dipped 7.3% to S$0.69.

"As before, we keep the initial hurdle at 3600, ahead of 3675. We could start to see some health profit taking should the index fail to overcome and sustain above 3600. On the downside, we peg the initial hurdle at 3560, ahead of 3500," OCBC said.