STI likely to open softer this week

AS noted in our Saturday column, trading in the local market last week was largely within expectations, the Straits Times Index (STI) dropping into the red for the year to date when the US Federal Reserve started its two-day Federal Open Market Committee meeting, then bouncing up smartly when the inevitable dovish statement was released.

We say "inevitable" because throughout the past eight years as the Fed sought to plug the holes in a badly leaking US econo…