Window dressing, portfolio pumping may spark pick-up

THE local stock market may have missed out on the festive rally that occurred on Wall Street leading up to Christmas but there could still be some chance of a pick-up this week as Dec 31 approaches, bringing with it the chance of some traditional year-end window dressing.

Apart from that, attention could be focused more on upcoming economic data releases, including consumer confidence and home prices in the US in the middle of the week. China's official purchasing managers' index (PMI) figures are also due to be released on Friday, though there will be no trading on the Singapore Exchange that day.

Wall Street waned last Thursday in a largely quiet session, trimming the S&P 500's gains to a still enviable 2.8 per cent from the end of the preceding week. The Dow and the Nasdaq were both up 2.5 per cent for the week as well.