Wall St's all-time high fails to rouse local bourse

THOUGH the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed for the first time in history above 16,000 on Thursday, the local stock market did not welcome the news, with the Straits Times Index trading in the red for the entire day before a last-minute push saw it close virtually unchanged at 3,172.85, for a gain of 0.47 of a point. For the week, the index lost 29 points or 0.9 per cent.

Dearth of liquidity has been a major problem for several weeks now and yesterday was no exception with a feeble 1.2 billion units worth $772 million being traded. Excluding warrants, there were 185 rises versus 188 falls.

Retail brokers reported little or no interest from their clients, in blue chips or penny stocks. "It's deathly quiet in our dealing room," said one trading representative. "This is the worst the market's been in many years."