Daily Markets Briefing: STI up 0.63%

Expect some cheers in the market today.

The Straits Times Index (STI) ended 19.9 points or 0.63% higher to 3163.93 on Tuesday, taking the year-to-date performance to +9.83%.

The top active stocks were DBS, which gained 1.05%, Singtel, which gained 0.54%, OCBC Bank, which gained 0.73%, Keppel Corp, which gained 1.23% and UOB, with a 0.27% advance.

According to OCBC Investment Research, this came as US stock market extended its rally, with the Dow jumping by triple-digits and the Nasdaq closing above 6,000 for the first time ever, as investors welcomed upbeat earnings and the possibility of corporate tax cuts.

Meanwhile, nine out of eleven S&P 500 industries ended higher, led by Materials (1.59%) and Energy (0.94%) while Telecommunication Services (-0.30%) and Utilities (-0.09%) lost ground.

Here's more from OCBC Investment Research:

The continued gains on Wall Street overnight could bring some cheer to the local sentiment, potentially extending yesterday’s 0.6% gains.

With today’s performance likely to be upside biased, we could see the index inching higher in the direction of the 3180 key hurdle.

Above it, we peg the next hurdle at 3200. On the downside, we keep the immediate support at 3110, ahead of 3085.

Overall volume shrank 18.4% with 2.7b units traded, while total value climbed 5.3% to S$1.2b, and average value/unit jumped 29.0% to S$0.44.

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