NORTH Korea's nuclear test last weekend brought the sellers out in the early part of the week, though prices stabilised when it appeared that the US response would be mainly through diplomatic channels.

Here, trading was muted for the most part, though with sporadic bursts of interest. On Friday, for example, a flurry of very late trades in the shares of prefabricated steel firm BRC Asia saw the stock finish S$0.04 or 4.9 per cent higher at S$0.86 on volume of 84.6 million. Market watchers speculated that the interest could be the prelude to a major announcement, possibly a takeover.

After North Korean nerves settled, however, markets soon found another wall of worry to climb, namely the US government's debt ceiling, the concern being whether the ceiling would be raised before the end of the month or whether there would be a government shutdown leading to a default on its debt obligations.