ST Index falls on Friday but gains 0.9% for week

A VOLATILE week ended on Friday with the Straits Times Index (STI) down 19.49 points at 2,814.6 in line with falls in most other emerging markets and currencies, and with more questions than answers in the minds of investors. For the week, the index gained 26 points or 0.9 per cent.

Top of the list, of course, is whether US President-elect Donald Trump will actually live up to his anti-trade, "America-first" stance, what it would mean for interest rates, and the impact of his as-yet unknown foreign policy towards South-east Asia.

Wall Street on Thursday demonstrated that it too is not immune to Trump-related uncertainty when the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.2 per cent to an all-time high but Nasdaq plunged 0.8 per cent, led by losses in Apple, Facebook and Amazon.