Few surprises as trading follows the script

IT'S not often that the stock market performs according to a script but that's what local stock market players witnessed this week. First, the Straits Times Index enjoyed a fair amount of year-end window-dressing in the final days of 2013, then it fell back once that support was withdrawn.

With no significant and genuine interest in blue chips, it's logical to assume speculative energies will turn to penny stocks and this is exactly what occurred - punters shed their concerns about the sector when top performers like HanKore, Vallianz and EMS Energy started to move in high volume, and jumped in.

Over in the US, there was a relief rally following the December Federal Open Market Committee meeting when Fed chairman Ben Bernanke announced a US$10 billion cut to the monthly US$85 billion bond-buying programme known as QE3. Finally, after seven months of uncertainty over when exactly the cut (or taper if you prefer to use Mr Bernanke's preferred word) would occur, a rally suggested that Wall St might actually be reducing its reliance on free Fed money and focusing on fundamentals instead.