SGX system breakdown main feature in dull week

WALL Street may have recovered and hit several new all-time highs this week but there was no spillover benefit here as the Straits Times Index underwent an indifferent five days, though it managed a 12-point or 0.4 per cent rise to 3,286.39.

On Friday, the index fell 4.57 points amidst low volume of 1.2 billion units worth S$1.07 billion, and excluding warrants, there were 186 rises versus 238 falls throughout the entire market - the third consecutive day in which falls outnumbered rises.

The biggest talking point came on Wednesday, when the Singapore Exchange's (SGX's) trading system broke down for three hours, one of the worst-ever interruptions in the exchange's history.