China worries push Ukraine into background

CONCERNS over China's economy were the market's main worry this week, brought on by weak commodity prices, soft industrial production and retail sales numbers.

However, although Russia's occupation of Ukraine-owned Crimea was shifted to the backburner because of China slowdown concerns, observers said tensions in Ukraine were still a worry that limited advances in Western markets.

The outcome was a triple-digit loss for Wall Street on Thursday that left the Straits Times Index nursing a 7.67-point loss yesterday at 3,073.72. For the week the index was down 63 points or 2 per cent.