Sunday, February 24, 2008

Prices are rising!

Sorry to burst your bubbles, I'm not referring to the rising unit trusts nor index. However, what I'm referring to may be of very good news for investors dealing in alternative or niche areas like materials, energy and gold.

Currently, oil, gold and raw materials had hit their peak and we are unlikely to see the end of it. For oil, it is extremely simple, there's a very limited supply but yet the demand for it is growing. Hence, unit trusts dealing with energy are growing even though markets are still sluggish.

Recently, there's news regarding the reviewing of prices of iron ore by Chinese firms. It is expected that prices of ore would probably rise 60-70%. Thus, unit trusts dealing with materials are showing an upward trend too.

For the last week, I also noticed an upward trend in Latin American economies and as these economies are mainly dealing with raw materials, I deduced that their rise are probably due to increase in the demand for raw materials. The Brazil fund is doing quite well as a matter of fact as compared to other regional unit trusts. It is also interesting to note that Thai unit trusts are showing an upward trend. However, the return of Mr Thaksin back to Thailand is akin to a pebble dropping into a still pond and the ripples might be great enough to cause a trend reversal. However, if all goes well, the Thai economy might be on the rise again! Do note the situation before investing!

That's all folks! Currently markets are consolidating and the situation seems to be under control for now even though it is still a tad too quiet. Thus, my outlook is still cautious though I might look at some energy funds for the long term.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

After the festive period

Finally, the festive period for the Asia region is over! This entails reviving interests in trading but retail investors might still be staying on the sidelines. In the short term, it is expected that major stock indices would still be hovering at current levels at +- 20%. An example would be the STI which I predict would hover between 2800 to 3200 at least for the next 3 months.

Performance of my portfolio is not doing great owing to the global downturn and sentiments are still shaky although I had been doing monthly injections on funds like BRIC, Chinese and Korea as they are still projected to have reasonable growth this year. My strategy is still on doing dollar cost averaging for at least the next year.

Lastly, happy chinese new year to all the readers!