Lee Shau-kee says time is right to dive back into ‘oversold’ shares

Lee Shau-kee, who last year was touted as Asia’s Warren Buffett but who has had a mixed record of predicting the market, says Hong Kong stocks have been oversold and now is the time to buy.

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Chinese Stocks Are World’s Worst In 2008

China won the most gold at the Olympics, but the country’s stock market is in dead last.

“China’s rally is probably a 2009 event, not a 2008 event,” he said.

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Commodity hedge fund collapses

NEW YORK: The hedge fund manager Ospraie Management has said that it will close its flagship fund after it plunged 27 percent in August on losses in energy, mining and natural resources equity holdings, in one of the biggest ever closures of a commodities-focused hedge fund.

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Clergy ‘wary of inter-faith talks’

Dr Mathews noted that Christianity in Singapore tends to be conservative, evangelical, ‘embracing an exclusivist stance’ in viewing other religions.

Shall I say elitist's attitude too, since only their believers go to heaven but non believers go to hell?

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U.S. Stocks at 25.8 Times Profit Means Rally May End

The best already may be over for the U.S. stock market this year.

“My intuition is that they are too early,” he said. “In an ordinary cycle, this should be the time to start thinking about buying. This isn’t an ordinary cycle.”

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Asia Currencies to Fall 12% on Capital Flight, ABN Amro Says

Sept. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Asian currencies could weaken another 12 percent in the next six to 12 months, with South Korea’s won at most risk, as $1 trillion of capital inflows into the region since 2001 reverse, according to ABN Amro Bank NV.

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HSI Put Warrant F5LW Hourly

This PW may retest 0.510 again.

Tibet: The Shangri-La that exists only in the West’s imagination

Since “violent Tibetan” does not fit our stereotype, our media fixed the news. While Chinese media showed extensive footage of violence and interviews with Chinese and Tibetan victims, Western media manipulated images and even showed footage from other countries (Nepal and India) in order to paint a picture of ruthless oppression by China’s government.

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Credit crisis: $716b written off, more losses to come

GENEVA: The credit crisis has forced financial firms to write down US$503 billion (S$716 billion) worth of assets, but more losses could yet come in months ahead, the top world central banking body has warned.

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Managers quitting as hedge funds take a hit

(BOSTON) Running a hedge fund was long considered the crown jewel in finance but this summer a growing number of managers have called it quits, unable or unwilling to keep going during one of the industry’s worst-ever years.

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Wall Street still irrationally exuberant

ALMOST a year into the US sub-prime crisis and equity markets around the world are still reeling from its fallout. In US dollar terms, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index is down 24 per cent year to date, the Straits Times Index 22 per cent, while the stock markets of China and India have dropped 52 and 36 per cent, respectively.

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World’s super-rich moving into cash: HSBC

They’re pulling out of stocks, bonds, structured products

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Is sex on the beach legal?

Two Britons have appeared in court in Dubai after allegedly having sex on a beach in the Muslim emirate. What would happen if a couple got frisky on a beach in the UK?

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Corpse-selling gang held for killing 100 frail victims in Guangdong

More than 100 disabled or elderly people may have been murdered by a gang in Puning , Guangdong province, and their corpses sold for cremation to families wanting to bury their dead.

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A Bad Summer for Stocks? This Fall Could Be Worse

Boyle has been consistent in predicting sharp stock downturns this year, and says that by October the Dow will slip below 10,000 and the S&P will tumble to 1,100 or lower, and the Nasdaq tech barometer is on its way to between 1,500 and 1,600.

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F9QW HSI Call Hourly

The bull is winning the 20800 battle, looks good to test 0.50.

Changtian Daily

I find this Changtian interesting.

Disappointing growth for Chinese companies

SHANGHAI: Disappointing first-half earnings growth at Chinese companies is a harbinger of gloomier news for the country’s stock market, which is already the world’s weakest performer this year.

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Don't look around, you trade (or used to) this way

How just our meritocracy?

Singapore needs to find a better balance so that social inequality does not become entrenched.

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Women warned not to wear perfume during pregnancy

PREGNANT women have been advised to avoid using perfumes or scented body creams after research suggested the products can cause unborn boys to suffer infertility or cancer in later life.

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Numbers don’t lie: The SGX is a penny stock market

If SGX had a minimum-price continued listing rule, then more than 80 per cent of the Singapore market would vanish.

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Fewer property deals in Olympic cities spark fears of price plunge

The Olympic party is over and, for property owners in Beijing, the hangover is just beginning.

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Li Ning scores a 10 in ambush marketing

At the Beijing Olympics, it wasn’t just Olympians and the Chinese government that were gearing up towards the big event. Marketers were working hard to catch some of the limelight that official Olympic sponsors paid handsomely for. Authorities at central and local levels had united to keep sponsors happy.

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War with Russia is on the agenda

Thinking about the massive failure of the U.S. media to report truthfully is sobering. The United States, bristling with nuclear weapons and pursuing a policy of world hegemony, has a population that is kept in the dark -- indeed brainwashed -- about the most important and most dangerous events of our time.

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Crude seen at US$90 before rebounding

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A Poem by Ong Ah Bee

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F9QW HSI Call Hourly

HSI bull and bear fighting out at 20800 level. If the bull wins, this call is worth a look.

What a Difference a Century Makes: China from Imperial Plaything to Global Leader

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Exchange-traded funds ‘ideal for volatile market’

Local investors have curbed their appetite for stocks amid roller-coaster-like volatility. But Deutsche Bank is hoping to draw them back into the market by introducing exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as a way of diversifying their exposure to volatility.

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Why you can’t beat forced savings for long-term gain

Investment-linked insurance policies - which combine life insurance and mutual funds - have become so popular for many insurance companies that they represent almost half of their sales.

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Support the MRT name change from Duchess to Hwa Chong Station

Next stop on Downtown Line: Hwa Chong station?

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Million-dollar question

Taiwan’s ex-president Chen Shui-bian may yet rebound from claims of money laundering

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1t yuan paper loss for funds

(SHANGHAI) China’s mutual fund sector incurred a record 1.08 trillion yuan (S$223.2 billion) in paper losses in the first half of this year due to the stock market’s tumble but management fees more than doubled from a year earlier, the official Shanghai Securities News reported yesterday.

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STI View by AmFraser

STI in early stages of bottoming out process for 2008 that could drag till October before a sustainable year-end/new year rally sets in.

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Recovery in the US is still distant

None of the preconditions for US recovery are in place

• Debt has not yet been repaid.
• Physical property market not yet stabilised.
• Labour market not yet stabilised.
• Rate increases not needed as wages are subdued.
• Rate cuts not my central case but cannot be ruled out (hardening lending attitudes mean NBPS will not benefit).
• Further financial pressure should be expected.

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US needs to reduce reliance on Asia’s money

INTELLIGENCE reports. Unemployment statistics. National-security estimates. Political polls. World leaders sure have their hands full digesting reams of data. The next US president should add this to his must-read list: the Federal Reserve’s H.4.1 table.

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Asian market fallout set to get far worse

Property, stocks will be hit bad as foreign capital is pulled: symposium speakers

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Is Gold about to decouple?

Gold has moved with the € and in the opposite direction to the US$ for months now. The main reason is because U.S. Investors have linked the performance of the $ to the € as a true reflection of the $ currency value. Of course this implies that the € is the defining currency against which to measure the performance of the $. But is that even reasonable? We think not.

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Hands-on mums ‘the best tutors’

CHILDREN whose mothers help them with their studies and communicate regularly with their teachers are more likely to do well in school examinations, a study has found.

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Fire Bernanke, Hire Trichet: Jim Rogers

“Maybe in 20 years we will have 29-year old farmers driving Maseratis instead of 29–year-old investment bankers driving Maseratis,” he said.

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HSI Put F5LW.SG

I like to see this warrant testing the upper BB at 0.470 on Monday.

West's White Trash Hypocrisy

When you criticise China, it's called freedom of speech. When you praise China, you lose your job.

A Chinese woman working at Germany’s DW-Radio has been suspended from her job following remarks she made in the media on human rights and other issues in China, the German press has reported.

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Orchestra admits ‘miming’ at Sydney Olympics in 2000

SYDNEY (AFP) - - Eight years after it hosted an Olympics that were famously hailed as the “best games ever,” Sydney has had to confess that it faked one of the key musical performances at the opening ceremony in 2000.

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Be the Reason for Somebody’s Happiness

The most beautiful thing is to see a person smiling. And even more beautiful is knowing that you are the reason behind it!

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Economy’s Surprise Growth Isn’t Expected to Continue

The economy shifted to a higher gear in the spring, growing at its fastest pace in nearly a year as foreign buyers snapped up U.S. exports and tax rebates spurred shoppers at home. But economists don’t expect the sudden surge to last.

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Pope angry over crucified green frog sculpture

“Art must always be free and the artist should not have any restrictions on freedom of expression,” Claudio Strinati, a superintendent for Rome’s state museums, told an Italian newspaper on Thursday.

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Shanghai police to shame jaywalkers on television

Shanghai police will post photographs and videos of jaywalkers in newspapers and on television in a bid to shame them out of breaking traffic rules, local media reported on Thursday.

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Buffet Rumours Trigger A-share Tremors

The rumour that vastly successful US investor Warren Buffet，worshiped the “God of Investment” in China, planned to sink $500 million into a Chinese company, but was refused, has triggered a round of speculation in China’s stock market, pushing some companies’ share prices up despite the slumped market. It seems China’s A-share investors are now sensitive to any news or rumours.

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Anwar is back

Video

Anwar, you have my utmost respect for "never say die" attitude.

Asian debt offerings facing a global crisis of trust

An expected deluge of Asian debt offers in September runs the risk of turning into a mirage as issuers grapple with a severe global crisis of trust.

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Mainlanders see prestige value in HK

Buyers have been known to view a HK$100m-plus property for 10 minutes and decide on the spot to buy it - in cash

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Cheap Chairs

Polygamy is the key to a long life

Want to live a little longer? Get a second wife. New research suggests that men from polygamous cultures outlive those from monogamous ones.

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Life is short. Have an affair to prolong life?

HSI Daily

Parabolic, MACD and Stochastic all pointing up.

HSI vs SIMSCI Relative Performance: Cash/Futures

SIMSCI tracks HSI very closely.

HSI vs DJIA Relative Performance: Cash/Futures

What do you see from this picture?

Govt defends A-G’s stand

Law Minister reiterates that 'not guilty in law' does not mean 'innocent'

This is a classic case of schizophrenic between the executive and the legislature.

When in parliament, the ministers discuss and set laws which are fair. They should not mix up their roles as "government" because otherwise you have a situation where you set laws OR not to set laws to make sure that the governing part is protected.

They should put on the hat of parliamentarians and comment on whether such a law would be fair or not. Keep the government outside parliament.

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Why Can’t Chinese Cars Compete Internationally?

Since the beginning of 2008, with raw material costs and oil prices rising constantly and “made in China” moving into cooler weather, the Chinese car market has caught a cold and domestic brands are the biggest sneezers.

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Time to track accuracy of analyst calls

IN RESPONSE to a call made last week in this column (BT, Aug 19, ‘Include analyst information in research reports’), a reader wrote in to say he would be compiling data pertaining to analyst performance over the next 12 months to see just how many recommendations actually achieve their target prices, and that once the study is complete, it would be offered for publication in BT.

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Libor Signals Credit Seizing as Banks Balk at Lending

Aug. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Most of the bond strategists and salesmen that Resolution Investment Management Ltd.’s Stuart Thomson talked to last August expected the credit crunch to be long over by now. Instead, money markets show there’s no end in sight, and it may even worsen.

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Lord Action

Power Corrupts:
Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely.

Axis of Evils

“An evil exists that threatens every man, woman and child of this great nation. We must take steps to ensure our domestic security and protect our homelands.”

Adolf Hitler / George Bush

Who really owns Federal Reserve?

I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is now controlled by its system of credit.

We are no longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men.

Woodrow Wilson - 1919

Giving people space to let off steam

Tight controls on politics and the Internet are being loosened, giving hope for multi-party democracy in a nation long used to the ruling PAP’s hold on power.

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Why the West is disappointed with Beijing Olympic 2008?

“Before the start of the Games, there were a lot of doubts about Beijing’s ability to host the biggest sports extravaganza in the world - pollution, hygiene conditions, transport and spectators were all concerns,” Mr Fok said. “But at the end of the day, these people witnessed the most successful Olympic Games ever.”

With no screw up to criticise, the West has to resort to the old human rights theme again. So predictable.

Interview with Jim Rogers

That’s one of the advantages of Singapore. The place has an astonishing amount of wealth and only 4 million people. So even if it started squandering it in 2008, which they may be, it’s going to take them forever to do so.

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China’s Excess Liquidity Trap

While this situation may sound positive, the associated imbalances in China’s economy are large and increasingly worrisome for China’s leaders. The way China deals with these challenges will have significant national and international implications.

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China’s the boss, and it’s not even close

BEIJING (AP)—The story line was in place even before they filled the pool inside the Water Cube. This was always going to be China’s Olympics to win, and there wasn’t a lot the United States or anybody else could do about it.

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Not time for bottom fishing

Stocks, bonds, properties are still in bear markets. They have at least one year to go before hitting bottoms. When they do, they won’t recover quickly. Investors should not hurry for bottom fishing.

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Foreign exchange reserves cannot be viewed as wealth

However, reserves are not wealth and they cannot be spent domestically.

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‘Made in China’ brand reaps Olympic dividend

BEIJING (AFP) - The Olympics had a negligible direct impact on China’s economy, but analysts say the near flawless organisation of the Games was a priceless 17-day advertisement for the “Made in China” brand.

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12 Ways to determine an Entrepreneur by Master Lynn Yap

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China plans new share sale system

(SHANGHAI) Chinese securities regulators, seeking to support the stock market, plan to introduce a new system for sales of shares made tradable by the expiry of lock-up periods, the 21st Century Business Herald reported yesterday.

The system is likely to be announced soon after this month’s Beijing Olympics, the newspaper reported.

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Strategist: Don’t buy equities yet

‘Technically, we’re in dangerous territory, having broken past previous index level lows,’ he said of Asian markets.

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Warren Buffett says 'game is over' for Freddie and Fannie

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two largest mortgage finance companies, "don't have any net worth," the billionaire investor Warren Buffett said.

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HSI Call F6VW

Hourly indicators look like preparing for run up.

China attracts more US college students

There are almost certainly at least 10,000 US students now enrolled annually in programs in China, up fivefold from a decade ago. China is the seventh most popular destination for US students, according to the Institute of International Education. But it’s growing so quickly that, if trends continue, it will soon pass countries like Britain, Spain and Italy and become the most popular.

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Li Ka-Shing says ‘worst is yet to come’ in global economy slump

(HONG KONG) Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, who predicted China’s stock market bubble would burst, says the ‘worst is yet to come’ from the global credit crunch.

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DBS Weekly

I think there's chance for DBS to test neckline at 16.40.

Singapore's 40 Richest

Is your name there? I am working towards it.

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How did Merrill Lynch miss the red flags?

A look at Merrill’s role in the transfer of large amounts of money on behalf of family members of Taiwan’s former president Chen Shuibian into Swiss bank accounts.

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Singapore’s Temasek Courts Disaster

The bull market tide goes out, leaving the lion city’s sovereign wealth firm gasping on the shore

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Hua Guofeng dies

BEIJING (AP) — Hua Guofeng, who briefly ruled China as communist founder Mao Zedong's successor but was pushed aside as a prelude to reforms that launched an economic boom, died Wednesday at the age of 87, state-run media reported.

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Don't codeswitch to Singlish, please

IT MAY seem like good manners to turn on the Singlish when communicating with a countryman who can speak only the patois, but think again.

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The Five Elements Industry:

Marc Faber comment on US of A

Dr. Marc Faber concluded his monthly bulletin (June 2008) with the Following:

"The federal government is sending each of us a $600 rebate. If we spend that money at Wal-Mart, the money goes to China. If we spend it on gasoline it goes to the Arabs. If we buy a computer it will go to India. If we purchase fruit and vegetables it will go to Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala. If we purchase a good car it will go to Germany. If we purchase useless crap it will go to Taiwan and none of it will help the American economy. The only way to keep that money here at home is to spend it on prostitutes and beer, since these are the only products still produced in US. I've been doing my part."

FerroChina Neckline Breakdown

FerroChina broke the neckline support at 1.02. 1) ML has been selling down with huge volume from 1.18 to 1.03, 2) many positions bought 1.20-1.30 and 3) potential margin calls underway, don't rule out hitting 0.840.

SSE Weekly

My target for SSE at 2200 almost reached this morning at 2284. Almost everybody is saying China's economy will tank together with her SSE after the Olympic Games.

But I take an opposite view that SSE will recover after the Olympic Games. Perhaps, SSE is building a base around 2200 and start to move up next week when the Olympic Games end?

SGX neckline breakdown like Capitaland?

Once 6.26 broken, next support at 4.94.

Global recession will drive down energy prices by 30%

The probability is growing that the global economy – not just the United States – will experience a serious recession. Recent developments suggest that all G7 economies are already in recession or close to tipping into one.

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Early failures all part of the learning curve

Bad decisions teach us a lot, says fund manager Enoch Yiu

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Diversify your portfolio but choose carefully

Adding a different kind of investment exposure to a portfolio may help to diversify it, but the question is - what kind of exposure is good for that purpose? One good strategy is to find an investment with a “low correlation to the global equity market” - in other words, an investment that moves in the opposite direction to global equities. Fund houses are touting this quite a bit nowadays, but are these really good for diversification? Investors can tell from the corresponding correlation coefficients.

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Searching for the naked truth

The real problem with abusive short-selling

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Commodity prices likely to rebound

Crashing commodity prices have once again given ammunition to sceptics who believe the boom of recent years was a blip, but that view underestimates the demand and economic growth in the emerging world.

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Dr. Doom

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Hot Money Scapegoated for A-share Market Nosedive

China’s A-share market has plummeted over 10% in the week since the opening of the Olympic Games, and many investors are wondering if hot money is short selling A-shares. Since the middle of October last year, the A-share market has dropped by 60%.

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David Stevenson: Go on the defensive to avoid fate like Japan’s

A disturbing thought has been dogging me: we may not be about to enter a “normal”, cyclical bear market of 25 to 30 per cent losses, but may instead endure a bear market akin to Japan’s, where returns on equity are pounded down as successive waves of rallies are consumed in a wider sense of gloom and re-rating.

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Last week's rally still a fally?

CNBC Video

Hedge funds brace for more heat after record losses

Hedge funds are braced for more dire performance data after sharp reversals in commodities and financials last month pushed some funds to record losses - making the goal of positive returns for the year even harder to reach.

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