STI stuck within a trading range

ONE phrase keeps cropping up in recent broker assessments of the outlook for the Straits Times Index (STI) - it looks "stuck within a trading range". Loosely, this range spans the region just below 3,200 up to around 3,280; the former - to employ technical jargon - being where the support lies and the latter being the resistance level.

Those who place their faith in fundamentals over technicals might scoff at using charts to divine what the future might hold but there is no denying that players have been buying the dips and selling into strength for several weeks now - which when you think about it, does amount to the market being stuck in a trading range.

The S$64,000 question, of course, is: What might prompt a break-out from this range?