Two assurances...

BUT can you trust they are favourable to Citizen Joe' station or state of affairs?

Assurance1: comes from the "Feel good" factor minister, echoing His Master's Voice.

The Star March 1, 2007 frontpage

Still strong


PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia’s economy remains robust and there is no cause for anyone to worry about the dip in the KL Composit Index, Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcob said.


He said because of this, there was no need for the Government to undertake special measures, such as capital controls.

Meanwhile, Aberdeen Asset Management Sdn Bhd’s managing director Gerald Ambrose said he believed the Malaysian stock market could still outperform other regional markets based on its good internal fundamentals.

Other positive indicators include:

> Malaysia’s GDP up 5.9% last year
The economy posted strong growth and Bank Negara said Malaysia’s economic growth prospects are expected to remain favourable this year, the country is better placed to deal with external shocks.

> China’s stock market rebounds
The Shanghai Composite Index closed 3.9% higher while the Shenzhen Composite Index bounced back 3.8% at the close yesterday, substantially recovering their loss of over 8% each on Tuesday.

> Wall Street opens higher
Buyers returned with more confidence as the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 57.1 points in early trading to 12,273.3 points at 10.40pm Malaysian time yesterday.

DESI: You are also advised to see reports in page 8 and Starbiz, but I ain't going to Boar/bore thee with their pigklings in case you maketh wrong investment decisions. Sue the rich buggers:) Desi's a mousey writHer!:(

I just reproduce NSTman's comment in "EXUBERANCE brings on freefall" yesterday, when all our troubles seemed so far away?
And my 3sen surplus response.



"nstman said...

The markets are scared of their own shadows, scared of their own fathers, own mothers, grandmothers. they have this herd mentality of running with their leaders. My advice to investors - dont panic, stay the course and you will be amply rewarded. in other words, dont be a coward and dont succumb to the herd mentality.

8:27 PM



"desiderata said...

nstman:

obviously as a "journalist" you have isights into market trading -- herd mentality, staying the course etc.

I think another basic advice given by successful stocks players is "to go into the market when everyone is rushing out" -- that is, a contrarian approach (to debunk also the herd mentality you referred to)...

My take is: IF YOU TRADE ON MARGINS, you are in trouble eg under T + 3 rule, the buggers will force sell your shares on 4th day (after the market has droped 10%) because you can't pay and keep the shares! Say more, or amore, amens then, God bless you though on rethink, I hope nstman and desi are forgiven for using the Holy name at wrong times!:) BUt I think He understands -- no malice here/hear.:):)

12:58 PM "


Assurance2: An item I pciked up from malaysia-today.net, king public service from Raja Petra~~

________________________________________________________

28/02: Federal Court Reaffirms Immunity of Bloggers from Suits Brought Against Commenters

The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy (ACS)

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act provides that "[no] provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider," and that "[n]o cause of action may be brought and no liability may be imposed under any State or local law that is inconsistent with this section." A recent decision (February 23, 2007) of the First Circuit has reaffirmed the broad protection this statute provides to bloggers and message board administrators.

In Universal Communication Systems v. Lycos, a company who had allegedly been victimized by defamatory statements on a message board regarding the value of its stock sued Lycos, which operated the board. The message board allowed users to post comments with minimal moderation, and no one from Lycos was responsible for the allegedly defamatory statements.

Examining the impact of Sec. 230 on this case, the court noted that "Congress intended that, within broad limits, message board operators would not be held responsible for the postings made by others on that board," adding that allowing bloggers and message board operators to be sued for the statements of commenters on their sites would have an "obvious chilling effect" on speech. Accordingly, the court dismissed the complaint against Lycos.

___________________________________________________

DESI: Malaysians can only hope the progressive US decision sets a good example for less advanced countries, including Malaysia, to follow.

WE hope our leaders do not benchmark against those below us, the likes of Uganda, but against those ahead of us, like the G8 and OECD nations.

Worst case scenario, you can depend on the selections of the First Finance Miister, also your Prime Miister, or on your Finance Minister II's pickings. You elected the BN government, didn't you?


________________________________________________________

JUST/(or JEST?) For The Record...


From The NST, March 1:

The Shanghai Composite Index gave way to a tumultuous sell-off on Tuesday that rolled through markets around the globe


BizFocus:

From Shanghai, tremors felt around the world

In China's wild cowboy stock market, record-breaking run-ups have been followed by mini-crashes that have been largely confined within this country's borders.
But on Tuesday, China's worst one-day tumble in a decade set off a tumult that rolled through markets around the globe, from Tokyo to Frankfurt to Brazil to Wall Street.


Speculative frenzy had lifted the Shanghai composite index above the 3,000-point milestone on Monday and then gave way to a tumultuous sell-off on Tuesday that sent shares plummeting nearly 9 per cent.


The downturn shattered all sorts of records, and analysts said there was no clear reason for Tuesday's severe drop in Shanghai, equivalent to a 1,100-point drop in the Dow Jones industrial average. But the Chinese stock market was rife with rumours that the Government was considering new measures to tame the world's hottest stock market before a bubble developed.


To many investors and analysts here, however, the extensive sell-off was just the latest indication that share prices in China had often become unhinged from the broader economy. Millions of everyday investors rushed blindly into stocks, emptying out their savings account to "play the market", as many of them say.


Perhaps the most remarkable sign of the recent irrational exuberance underpinning China's stock markets was that during the last year, when a company announced bad news, its stock price shot through the roof.


Early this year, for instance, when a group of 17 Chinese firms was cited by regulators for misappropriating corporate funds, their stock prices all skyrocketed. When Tianjin Global Magnetic Card Co failed to report quarterly earnings last April, its stock doubled.


Tuesday was different, though. With shares in Shanghai tumbling, stocks listed in Shenzhen also collapsed, falling 9.3 per cent. In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng index fell 1.76 per cent, and in Japan, the Nikkei dropped about half a point, to 18,119.92.


None of the world's major stock markets have been as volatile as that of China, where people refer to the stock market as "dubo ji", or the slot machine. The gyrations have become almost commonplace for a stock market that suffered through a five-year depression until 2006, when it rose more than 130 per cent, the world's best performance.


The Chinese Government, however, is worried about an over-reaction that could produce a bubble and then a crash that could send bankrupt investors into the streets in protest.


Analysts say that at least in some cases, the stocks of tainted companies have risen because the companies were viewed as shedding old problems and starting anew. Still, some of those problems reflect deep cultural attitudes and are unlikely to be fixed overnight.


Analysts also argue that the market has been running up because of stronger fundamentals, rising profits, improved regulation and oversight by officials, and confidence in the market's long-term growth prospects.


But in this current run of market mania, even corruption appears to be a buy signal. That was the case for the Shanghai Bailian group, which reported on December 29 that its chairman was under investigation for fraud. The company's shares have climbed 45 per cent since then.


Two weeks ago, after the chairman of Shanghai Hai Niao Enterprise Development Co was detained, his company's shares rose 15 per cent.


"There's just too much liquidity out there, too much," says Chang Chun, a financial reform expert at the China Europe International Business School in Shanghai. "This is a psychological thing."


China's stock market system is still relatively immature, and trustworthy information about a company's performance is still hard to come by. So the average investor does little or no research.


Just to find names of stocks to buy is a task for new investors. So if they see even a mention in the press, positive or negative, they start buying. If alert investors are lucky, they might get a tip. If state television mentions a company, it must be worth something, and if they don't catch the full story, they at least have a name. "If I hear a stock mentioned on the TV news I will pay attention to it," says Xu Xiaochen, a 55-year-old retiree.


In any case, many investors here seem to believe that the secret to picking stocks is luck and confidence in the Government, not the fundamentals of any particular company


"I don't know how to choose a stock," says a 61-year-old retiree at a local brokerage house a few weeks ago. "But I trust those technology companies. Maybe the names of some companies sound lucky to me, so I choose to buy these stocks."


Government officials began cautioning several weeks ago against "blind optimism" in the stock market. Banks were ordered to stop making loans to people who were speculating in the market. Trading volumes have been so high that the Shanghai Stock Exchange recently warned that the country's electronic trading system could be destabilised.


Stock prices fell sharply for four consecutive days in early February as investors seemed to contemplate the possibility of an overheated stock market.


After a brief pause, they rushed in again. Foreign money is also piling in, according to JPMorgan, and hardly an analyst is willing to bet against the stock market.


"You can't be a fundamental investor in China," said Michael Pettis, a professor of finance at Peking University. "You can only speculate. Fundamental investors make long-term cash flow projections. In China, there's not good information or corporate governance."


Pettis, who has long been a market sceptic here, is now raising a fund to invest in Chinese stocks, based on his projections of the inflow that will push up prices.


"There's a huge amount of money in the banking system with nowhere to go," he said. "I think you're going to see that money getting out of the banking system."


Mutual funds are also helping some individual investors, while others are scrambling into initial public offerings, which over the past year have had a strong opening-day track record.


Of the 15 firms that went public on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, 12 of them experienced opening-day rises of more than 10 per cent. In Shenzhen last year, not a single firm listed there experienced a drop on the first day of trading. On their first day of trading, 34 stocks jumped more than 70 per cent. One firm's shares climbed 332 per cent.


Now, regulators are seeing a growing number of stock frauds directed at small investors. And Chinese officials worry that investors are still relying on a welfare state, which is increasingly disappearing, to take care of them.


As for the companies that are seeing their stock prices climb despite their troubles, they may be hard pressed for explanations, but nonetheless defend the phenomenon.


"The stock is the stock and the CEO is the CEO," said a woman working in the executive office at Shanghai Haixin Group after she acknowledged that the chief executive was under investigation. "As for our CEO's bad news, yes, it happened. But it is outdated and not newsworthy at all. As for the stock price, we don't know either." - NYT

DESI: GoodBUY, Chow!