A 2021 wish list for the market: Looking to progress on key fronts

AS A dismal 2020 winds down to a close, many will be hoping that 2021 will see economies recovering and life returning to normal.

Some might even draw up a wish list for the local stock market, given that even with a strong rally since November, the Straits Times Index is still down about 11 per cent for the year. Investors have also in 2020 witnessed the departure of 17 firms, including well-known names such as BreadTalk, Soilbuild Reit and SK Jewellery, which have opted to surrender their listings in order to go private. If a wish list is drawn up, what might it include?

The first and most obvious has no direct link to the market but is critical nonetheless. It is that the vaccines to be administered in the coming months prove fully effective against Covid-19 and that a sufficiently large proportion of the world's population do get inoculated so that the spread of the virus is curbed. This has to be the starting point, for without an effective cure, economies cannot open up and return to some semblance of normalcy and growth.