Simon Sim, the author of The Joseph Cycle, observed that there were many long term cyclical trends operating in trading markets. Year 2001 was the last bottom and Year 1994 was the last top. Year 1987 was the previous bottom, following a severe 508pt drop in the Dow.

In the bull run from 1974 to 1980, the STI rose 391%. In the bull run from 1988 to 1994, the index rose 255%.

If history were to repeat itself and the cycle's length does not change, then a potential objective of the STI would be 4,300pts in 2008!

Based on methods of forecasting such as Fibonacci Percentages Forecasting and mathematical tools, the forecast is for the STI to reach 4,268 in 2008.

Measured from the low of 1,197pts in 2001, this represents a gain of 257% for the index.

At the top, we can expect everybody throwing caution to the wind. Everybody will be asking "What to buy next?". Your ah peks, ah sohs, provision shop owners and taxi drivers will become the stock market gurus. The media will also feed on this frenzy, with every glowing report on the stock flavours of the day gleefully lapped up and acted upon by the speculators.

This has not happened yet... so the market has definitely more room to run.

But an eternal phenomenon is that both the bull and bear markets will each have their run cycles.