Dow's topping of 17,000 fails to rub off on STI

THE Dow Jones Industrial Average may have closed above 17,000 for the first time on Thursday, but the impact here was muted, to say the least, with trading this week remaining firmly in penny territory amid low dollar volume.

News reports said a positive US job report on Thursday sent the Dow to its latest all-time high, bringing its gain since Lehman Brothers went bankrupt in September 2008 to 10,000 points or 143 per cent.

In response, the Straits Times Index (STI) yesterday first rose 17 points to 3,289, as the short-covering of the previous three days extended into another day. However, in the absence of genuine buying, the index drifted to a net loss of 0.9 point at 3,272.25. The index was virtually unchanged for the week. Turnover through the five days was …