Daily Markets Briefing: STI up 0.15%

Expect muted gains today.

The Straits Times Index (STI) ended 5.27 points or 0.15% higher to 3473.08, taking the year-to-date performance to +2.06%.

The top active stocks were DBS, which dipped 0.07%, OCBC Bank, which gained 0.31%, Venture, which declined 2.06%, UOB, which rose 0.78% and Singtel, with a 0.61% fall.

The FTSE ST Mid Cap Index declined 0.13%, whilst the FTSE ST Small Cap Index fell 0.13%.

OCBC Investment Research noted that the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite ended with modest losses, as a selloff in major technology shares put pressure on the benchmarks.

Seven out of eleven S&P 500 industries ended higher, with Energy (1.58%) and Telecommunication Services (1.22%) leading the gains while Information Technology (-1.09%) and Materials (-0.54%) led the losses.

"Today’s tone is likely to be cautious as investors turn their attention to this weekend’s G-7 summit in Canada for trade clues," OCBC Investment Research commented.