|
Firm predicts market with feng shui
Investors who took a hit from the market downturn in the Year of the Rat may want to consult the Chinese practice of feng shui before making any investment moves during the new year, according to a Hong Kong-based investment firm.
The CLSA has released its own Feng Shui Index Report, in which it said the Year of the Ox was unlikely to be a bull year for stock markets but “there’ll be some terrific money-making opportunities for the sage and the swift.”
“People in the Far East often believe in feng shui or consulting fortune tellers for their business,” commented John Nolan, an analyst with a HCM City fund management firm. “They say the Year of the Ox could be seen as a good time for stock markets.”
Vietnam was still a small country with few ties to the global market, Nolan added. The impact of the global credit crunch would be unavoidable, particularly in the first half of the year, but it could be limited to export businesses or psychological impacts, he said.
“Foreign investment will be restrained, and the business performance of domestic firms will be unpredictable, but there are still many opportunities for investors to earn money,” said Tran Dac Sinh, general director of the HCM Stock Exchange.
Sinh noted that some listed firms have achieved attractive price-to-earnings ratios despite the high P/E ratio of the market overall in comparison to other regional markets.
VinaCapital Director Don Lam agreed that the Vietnamese market was one viewed as least likely to suffer greatly impacts from the global economic slowdown in the eyes of overseas investors. “We see opportunities to win in your market,” said Lam.
Josephine Yei, general director of SaigonBank Berjaya Securities, a newly established brokerage, predicted the domestic market would boom again in the future due to the rich supply of shares that were to be added to the market over the next three years, expanding the opportunities and scale of this market.
With about 800 State-owned enterprises still planning to go public, market capitalisation making up only 15 percent of GDP, and investor accounts constituting just 0.6 percent of the total population, the potential for another boom was at hand, Yei said.
To keep the market lively in the meantime, regulators are considering the introduction of derivatives such as options and margin accounts, with Saigon Securities Inc Chairman Nguyen Duy Hung recently telling the press that his firm expected to soon begin offering the alternative forms of investment.
“In other markets worldwide, investors can use different methods beside buying and selling to make their investment more profitable, so why can’t we?” asked VPBank Securities investor Thanh Phong.
“Investors can do one of three things: buy, hold or sell. They’ve gotten bored with doing the same thing everyday. They need something new,” agreed freelance analyst Huy Nam.
The General Secretary of the Vietnam Association of Securities Businesses, Nguyen Thanh Ky, also said that derivatives could help brokerages avoid bankruptcy.
But not everyone was enthralled with the idea.
“In my opinion, it will take longer than this year to introduce derivatives as these forms of investment depend on how well investors know to use them, as well as the technical system and legal framework to run them,” said Sinh.
Sinh said that the stock exchange was continuing to focus on the completion of the recently introduced remote trading system, as well as on creating advantages for introduction of derivatives in the near future.
vna
|
