'Flattish' with 2,882 the mark to beat

IT'S been said a few times before in this column but it bears repeating - every time this year the Straits Times Index (STI) crosses its Dec 31, 2015 closing level of 2,882, it quickly loses it.

Put differently, the index simply cannot convincingly rise into the black for 2016 - by our estimate, last week's crossing on Tuesday was the fifth or sixth time this year. As with the previous attempts, recapturing the level proved short-lived, with the index closing at 2,875 on Friday.

It's almost as if STI recording a positive return for the year is a trigger for hedge funds and algo traders to immediately sell or go short. Why this might be the case is anybody's guess - maybe it really is earnings worries that analysts say is the culprit. But it's certainly worth noting that other regional markets have overcome their rocky starts to the year in convincing fashion - thanks to a massive Q3 push, the Hang Seng Index is now about 9 per cent up for 2016.