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 fell 54 points on Thursday and Friday showed that Wednesday's surge was indeed engineered.

The reaction to Ms Yellen's "dovishness" also tallies with how European markets welcomed the European Central Bank's (ECB's) shift to negative interest rate policy (NIRP) a month after Japan announced its own NIRP.