Short week but data aplenty to drive STI direction

A SHORT week on the back of Monday's Labour Day holiday coupled with last Friday's soft finish on Wall Street ahead of the weekend of US President Donald Trump's 100th day in office, plus sluggish US economic data, could see the local bourse start on a low note this week.

As the week progresses, traders will have much to chew on in terms of news flow and macro data - as well as corporate earnings - that could determine the direction of the stock market.

"The week will be a short one for most markets in Asia ... That said, it certainly is not expected to be one short of leads with two major central bank meetings and US non-farm payrolls data due. This is in addition to multiple PMI (Purchasing Managers' Index) updates," said IG Asia market strategist Jingyi Pan.