STI kicks off week on a strong note

A 90-POINT rise in the Dow futures and a 1.65 per cent surge in Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index helped the Straits Times Index (STI) kick off the week with a 47.82-point or 1.7 per cent jump to 2,851.74.

The gains on Monday were led by the banks and Singtel - of the S$933 million total value traded, some S$605 million or 65 per cent was done in the 30 STI components. Excluding warrants, there were 278 rises versus 133 falls.

The trigger for traders to cover their short positions came with the release of a weak US jobs report for August, a timely reminder that bad economic ne…