TRY as one might, it's difficult to be optimistic on the market's chances for the four trading days this week. Yes, the country goes to the polls on Friday thus raising hopes of an election rally beforehand but as has been the case in the past, general elections rarely produce meaningful price gains.

More important are considerations such as how a hugely unpredictable and volatile China market will perform, whether the Chinese government will unveil fresh measures to stem the market's bleeding and how Wall Street will move ahead of the upcoming Federal Open Markets Committee meeting on Sept 16-17 .

China's movements are anybody's guess - the market there reopens on Monday after a two-day holiday to celebrate the end of World War II and could just as easily rise 5 per cent as it could fall 5 per cent.