Daily Markets Briefing: STI up 0.62%

Gains on Wall Street could boost the local bourse.

The Straits Times Index (STI) ended 19.62 or 0.62% higher at 3,190.73.

The top active stocks were DBS, which inched up 0.17%, Genting Sing, which dipped 2.75%, UOB, which climbed 0.94%, OCBC, which edged up 0.26%, and Singtel with a 0.99% advance.

The FTSE Mid Cap grew 8.98% whilst the FTSE Small Cap rose 0.38%.

According to OCBC Investment Research (OIR), stocks closed mostly higher as investors digested a tide of corporate earnings whilst monitoring US-China trade talks and a long-running US government shutdown.

Eight out of the eleven S&P 500 industries ended higher, led by Information Technology (0.93%) and Energy (0.6%). Consumer Staples (-1.3%) and Health Care (-0.86%) led the laggards.

"We expect the local sentiment to be fairly positive today, following the modest gains on Wall Street overnight," OIR said.