Banks prop up Friday's weak session, STI up 0.3% for the week

ON paper, the key event this week was the US Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee meeting held over Tuesday and Wednesday. Although no interest rate hike was expected, the market was waiting for information on two fronts - the Fed's "dot plot", which provides an insight into how many more rate hikes Fed officials think are needed; and the schedule for the unwinding of the US central bank's US$4.5 trillion balance sheet.

The first indicated three more hikes by the end of 2018, which came as a relief since this means a very gradual pace of tightening - one in December and two throughout the whole of next year.

The second also came as a relief - starting next month, the Fed will sell bonds back to the market at the rate of US$10 billion initially, a pace seen as being measured enough to keep markets happy.