STI rises 1% as Wall St avoids collapse

WALL Street avoided a major blowout on Monday, thus resulting in a minor "relief rally" in this part of the world on Tuesday.

Also possibly playing a part in helping the Straits Times Index rebound 30.94 points or one per cent to 3,157.82 on Tuesday was the impending arrival of the end of the first quarter of 2017 on Friday, a time when blue chips can be expected to be "window-dressed" or padded. If so, then part of Tuesday's rise could either be attributed to early window-dressing or buying in anticipation of window-dressing on Friday.

Turnover amounted to a moderate 2.7 billion units worth S$1.3 billion and, excluding warrants, there were 321 rises versus 152 falls across the market.