THE Straits Times Index slumped to a five-month low this week, closing at 3,295 on Tuesday before a three-day rebound that included a 6.18-point rise on Friday that took it to 3,353.85. The initial impetus for that bounce came from news that MSCI had postponed including China "A" shares in its emerging markets index, news which meant Singapore's weighting will not be cut - yet.

Additional momentum was generated by a mid-week rally on Wall Street, reportedly from news that the US economy was strengthening, but more likely from short-covering after days of weakness.

Over the course of the week, the index gained 20 points or 0.6 per cent. Volume during the week was mediocre, peaking at S$1.3 billion on Tuesday and Thursday. Friday's total however, was a weak 1.3 billion units worth S$948 million. Excluding warrants, there were 187 rises versus 229 falls, so the session was weaker than the index's reading suggests.