Drive-Simple Yet Exciting Through It All

Cool Driver

Perhaps it is the cool demeanor of Ryan Gosling that provided some excitement to the show.

The Get-away Driver

No, there isn't any super driving skills shown in this movie that will match Bulitt.

Even the romantic aspects with Carey Mulligan was under-done.

Under-done Candy

Yet, through, it all, it does have its share of excitement amidst the violence that is unnecessarily unleashed.

BSKL-The Calm Before the Tsunami Storm

Plain to See

No one, in his wildest imagination, can fathom  this forthcoming potential calamity of the BSKL.

I think that there is hardly anyone who was truly involved in the mayhem unleashed on the market during the May 13 in the fateful year of 1969.

I am sure many lost tons of money when the stock market went almost rock bottom during the attack on Kuwait by Saddam Hussein in the year 1990 or in the 1997 currency contagion debacle.

While the European markets are still being roiled by sovereignty debt issues cutting any ability to buy more from developing nations, expect growth to plateau off or even dip slightly in exporting nations.

Any bad news on China's growth will impact negatively on our palm oil exports.

While the global economic picture does not seems one bit brighter, the local scene is likely to deteriorate given the impending national elections.

Signs are not good for BN to retain power easily.

Any further loss in state governments will be nasty for the National Front.

The rumour mills are fill of rumblings of the political decimation of the BN component parties except in Sabah and Sarawak.

Is the PSY concert creating negative vibes on the whole country?

Given this kind of 'sinking feeling' scenario, BSKL will likely slide due to attrition activities, if it does not receive a hefty  jab to the jaw.

Do not look at the high priced stocks that are the darlings of foreign funds such as BAT,F & N, Panasonic, KLK and Nestle. These are just index indicators.

A small drop in their price will create havoc. Similarly, a rise will jack up the index. They are mirage formers. Do not trust the index.

Watch out if you are holding penny stocks and those in the ringgit to two ringgit range.

If such stocks are not GLC holdings, they will be the first victims to fall to the effects of attrition as their prices will slide daily, even in minute doses, as long as there are weak sellers and greedy bargain hunters. Very soon, without you knowing,  these counters would have lost 10 to 20% of their value!

Some destabilising news will come from the Selangor front soon  if the MB should announce the dissolution of the State Assembly after Chap Goh Mei.

Whatever the outcome; irrespective of the possibility of the Sultan not giving his blessings or the Election Commission not willing to fix an early date for the Selangor polls, expect high octave uncertainty to occur on the political scene that will rock the BSKL.

The best thing to do is to have a big war chest of funds and jump into the market when there are clear signals  of a new stable government being formed.

Ensure early safe departure

Remember you cannot buy at the best lowest  price all the time  unless you are a dare-devil high risk-taker.

Buy in when the market finds traction and do so gradually; and have some reserves to take advantage of intra-falls as the market moves up after the general elections.

Meanwhile, don't play but pray!

The Phuket Tsunami

The Impossible Escape

The disastrous 2004 tsunami that caught holiday-goers in 2004 in Phuket, Thailand is the main premise of the movie, " The Impossible" starring Naomi Watts and Ewan MacGreggor.

There were moments when you expected the obvious and yet it did not come particularly that of the  fate of Dr.Maria as she laid in a life and death limbo in the closing minutes of the movie.

However, as many lives were lost, many families got away with scratches from this impossible natural calamity. That Dr. Maria's family was fully saved and reunited through this horrible event made for a happy ending for the film.

The two younger members of the family acted quite well and we are shown the emotive side of Ewan as he sought desperately for his missing wife and eldest son.

Quite a watchable fare.

Chinese New Year 2013

A Typical Low-cost in Air Keroh Heights

As much as we want it, ours has become quite a dysfunctional family.

So all the siblings had their own reunion dinner as usual on a household basis. For me it was with my wife and our two kids.

Chinese New Year fare-our usual traditional dishes of ju hu char with salad leaves and sambal, curry chicken and peppered pig stomach soup.

On the first day of the New Year of the Snake, I went back to Malacca along with the kids and their Auntie Shaline.

I spent some quality time with my Dad as well as with my siblings (Jimmy and Edwin) and their families.

On the second day, I visited my mum and my sister Iriene and her family.

Well, today which is the fourth day is a working day and tomorrow, my daughter has to go back to her desk job.

So much for CNY 2013.

Stale Bull Gangnam Style on BSKL

Stale Bull Action?

It is now post CNY and today is the first day of trading.

What can be seen is stale bull action or possibly corporate buy-backs for the treasury to ensure that the stocks hold up in the advent of the impending 13th GE.

The pertinent indicator today will be volume.

I expect the trading on blue chips to be thin with support for government-backed counters such as FGV.

The telecommunications counters which has fallen quite a fair bit is improving marginally.

Large cap stocks are just maintaining their price range.

Do not expect an adrenal rush to occur anytime  amongst buyers.

No gangnam music is heard so far.

Master Drummer for Penang Votes

PM Najib has taken up Chinese drums to cajole the Penang voters of Chinese stock to stick with BN.

Heave-ho beat!

Will the hard beating of the Chinese drums do the trick?

Will he get the swing votes?

The Commoditisation of Decent Housing

Selling to Those Who Cannot Afford

The prices of housing is going up especially in prime areas in the Klang Valley.

The last four years saw terrace houses shooting to almost half a million ringgits in the Klang Valley.

About 85% of the workforce, mostly between the ages of  25 and 35 years of age, earns about RM 5,000 or less.

When houses go to prices beyond RM 400,000, it is difficult for them to buy as their income will only allow them to buy houses at about RM 250,000.

Sadly, such medium priced houses can only be bought south of Nilai or  north beyond Rawang. The cost of transport will 'kill you' if you buy so far away.

With developers producing high-priced houses, new graduates who are saddled with PTPN loan and car loans will find it hard to even secure  loans to buy houses.

As developers get more greedy and profit-driven and continue to build high priced housing schemes and banks continue to lend to those who actually cannot afford to own houses, the bubble may come and we may join the ranks of Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain anytime within the next 2 years or so, if we are not careful.

Many are speculating that the bubble will burst once buyers are no longer buying.

So, when there are no buyers, developers will be stuck with housing stocks and they would have to get rid of this overhang with more inventive marketing.

In my opinion, the bubble may have been postponed by BNM's 80% financing limit.

I also believe that developers are also slowly having less launches of boutique housing types and will build accordingly to a more conservative price-range.

So, while the the bubble may have occurred to some extent  in the commercial and condominium sector in the Klang Valley, I do not see it happening in landed residential property as yet.

So, I would expect those public-listed developers to continue building high priced boutique units in and around Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya.

So, let us look at the trend of property starts as the year roll by.

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