Some thoughts on what 2015 might bring

A NEW year has rolled around and with it comes fresh hopes that the local market will prove more rewarding than it did in 2014.

We say this because even though the Straits Times Index recorded a gain of 6.2 per cent last year, the bulk of this can be traced to significant outperformance by the three banks and, to a slightly lesser extent, the Jardine stable and SingTel.

In other words, thanks to large gains in a small handful of stocks the impression is that the local market did reasonably well in 2014, when many in the market believe the reverse to be the case.