STI tracks Dow futures, China volatility

THE Straits Times Index (STI) on Wednesday moved in tandem with the US futures market as traders tried to anticipate how Wall Street might perform during its own Wednesday session.

In this regard, an early100-point rise in the Dow Jones Industrial Average's futures raised hopes that the US market would rebound after Tuesday's plunge and thus lent some stability to the STI; however, gains were capped by weakness in China and Hong Kong where the major indices ended in the red.

After rebounding to an intraday high of 2,906 most probably thanks to short covering, the STI ended the day at 2,878.13 for a net loss of 4.64 points. At 5pm, the Dow futures' gain had been cut to around 60 points.