STI rises amid weaker broad market

THE Straits Times Index drifted for most of Tuesday's session, tracking movements in the Dow futures and Hong Kong before ending at 2,879.14 for a gain of 4.49 points on the day. More importantly, however, was that turnover slipped to 1.9 billion units worth S$1.03 billion compared to Monday's S$1.1 billion. Excluding warrants, there were 177 rises versus 225 falls.

Traders said there were signs that the post-Trump, "risk-on'' rally might be losing momentum, probably as markets come round to the realisation that Donald Trump's election promises - difficult though they may be to implement - would result in higher US interest rates and possibly lower international trade.

There was little direction to be derived from external sources - Hong Kong closed weaker, the Dow futures rose but only by a small amount and Europe, which closed in the red on Monday, opened mixed.