Late rebound offers hope on weak day

ON numerous days this year, the Straits Times Index's (STI) movements didn't properly represent that day's trading, especially when support for the banks and Jardine group pushed the index up strongly, giving the impression of healthy demand for stocks when the reality was that the rest of the market lagged far behind.

Monday's session was not such an occasion. The STI's 21.72-point drop to 3,202.15 came with the broad market excluding warrants recording only 84 rises against 396 falls, accurately portraying a session that was weak and lacking in any real positives. Turnover remained mediocre at 1.3 billion units worth S$948 million, of which S$604 million or 64 per cent was done in the 30 index stocks.

There was, however, a late rebound that took the STI off its intraday low of 3,194 which, combined with similar reversals in Hong Kong and Europe when markets there opened in the late afternoon, brought some hope that short-covering at least might provide some support on Tuesday.