WALL Street may have risen to new highs on Friday and the Dow futures on Monday may have continued this upward momentum, but stocks in this part of the world have not followed suit. The Straits Times Index on Friday dropped 19 points, followed by 27.33 points or 0.97 per cent to 2,787.27 on Monday.

This decoupling is likely because of US president-elect Donald Trump's resolve to put America's interests ahead of the rest of the world, prompting fears of trade protectionism that would hurt Asian economies.

Whatever the case, one silver lining has been a surge in trading volume to above the S$1 billion industry breakeven level for several days now. Monday's business amounted to two billion units worth S$1.3 billion and, excluding warrants, there were 124 rises versus 294 falls.