Daily Markets Briefing: STI down 0.46%

Don't expect any lift from Wall Street today.

The Straits Times Index (STI) ended 14.95 points or 0.46% lower to 3219.42 on Friday, taking the year-to-date performance to +11.76%.

According to SGX Daily Market Summary, the top active stocks were OCBC Bank, which declined 0.38%, Singtel, which closed unchanged, DBS, which declined 1.14%, CapitaLand Commercial Trust, which declined 2.97% and Noble, with an unchanged.

This came as the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite logged tiny gains but they were enough for the benchmarks to finish in record territory and book a seventh straight advance, ahead of the long Memorial Day weekend, OCBC Investment Research said.

Meanwhile, six out of eleven S&P 500 Industries ended higher, with Consumer Staples (0.33%) and Consumer Discretionary (0.31%) leading the gains while Real Estate (-0.64%) led the declines. The index was up 1.43% for the week.

Here's more from the brokerage firm:

The muted performances on Wall Street overnight are unlikely to bring any inspiration to the local bourse today.

We continue to peg the initial hurdle at 3250, ahead of 3300; on the downside, we maintain the immediate support at 3200, ahead of 3170.

Overall volume shrank 9.6% with 1.8b units traded, and total value lost 14.8% to S$1.0b, and average value/unit fell 5.8% to S$0.53.

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