Volatility likely to rise in the weeks ahead

LAST week's column highlighted the real likelihood that blue chips would enjoy a window-dressing push as the end of the quarter on Thursday drew nearer. As it turned out, the Straits Times Index (STI) jumped 54 points on Wednesday, a move that was partly attributed to comments by US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen about the need to go easy when raising interest rates, and partly to early window-dressing.

The gains posted in response to Ms Yellen's comments showed that markets are still very much in favour of "bad economic news is good for stocks", whilst the fact that the STI quickly …