US rate expectations, North Korea to drive STI

IN Friday's market report, the possibility was raised that the Straits Times Index's best days for 2017 have already passed and that the 16 per cent run that took it from 2,880 at the start of the year to 3,354 on July 27 raises the possibility that there may not be much to look forward to for the rest of the year.

This thesis was partly based on a comment in Macquarie Warrants' (MW) Sept 20 daily newsletter in which it said the reason the Singapore market did not screen well in Macquarie Equities Research's (MQ's) recent Asean conference investor survey was possibly because of strong performance year to date that had made it Asean's best performer.

In other words, unlike Wall Street which continues to rise because it is probably seen as a safe haven that will always be rescued by a generous central bank, projecting more gains for the STI based on recent upward momentum may not be possible.