Stocks play out according to FOMC script

IT is not often that the market plays out almost exactly according to script, but it happened this week.

The main event was the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting over Tuesday and Wednesday. Markets traded generally cautiously ahead of this, perhaps understandably, given that US labour market reports have shown strength, which in turn implies greater urgency for interest rate hikes.

In the meantime, everyone watched to see if the word "patient" would be dropped from the statement issued after the FOMC meeting, and as it turned out, it was.