Investors were subjected to a dizzy roller-coaster ride in the past fortnight as equity markets gave way to wild swings.

Two Fridays ago, the Straits Times Index (STI) tumbled to close at 2,574.21 - the lowest in about 23 months since the index finished at 2,559 on Oct 4, 2006. The day before, the STI had plummeted 80 points or 3 per cent.

Elsewhere in the region on the same day, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index closed at an 18-month low of 19,933.28 while Japan's Nikkei 225 ended at a six-month low of 12,212.23.

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