Wall St's wobbles limit STI's gain to 0.5% for the week

WALL Street's volatility was the main feature of trading this week, especially in the latter half. Its sharp rise on Wednesday pushed the Straits Times Index (STI) up 43 points on Thursday, but an unexpected plunge the next day brought the sellers out; on Friday, the STI dropped 32.17 points, which cut its gain for the week to 17 points or 0.5 per cent at 3,209.47.

To be sure, there must have been some element of quarter-ending "window-dressing" or "portfolio rebalancing" involved in these swings.

One commentator summed it up this way: "Choppy behaviour like this tends to be seen at the end of the quarter, when institutions are moving holdings around for reporting purposes."