Tough Time to Play

Finally, the day has come.

Isn't it amazing that KLCI finally broke through 1,200 pts ? do you still remember when was the last time the KLCI last stood at a point above 1,200 pts?

yup, it's about 10 years ago, it was the beginning of 1997, before Princess Diana had the accident, before Hong Kong was returned to China, and of course, before "the speculators" or Soros hit us so bad and subsequently brought us to the Asian Financial Crisis. Bravo. 10 years.

Still remembering that pre-97 are times when mum and dad investors would quit their daily jobs and spent most of their time hanging out in the brokerage house. Any stock, literally, any stock you buy, you can make money. Of course, what follow aftermath was a brutal, cruel, blood-splashing stock market crash where the plunge in the KLCI index was faster than the speed estimated by the Law of Gravity.

2007, what do we see? another amazing bull run we have. well, technically, it's no longer a "any stock you buy, you can make money" era, but hey, if you stick to the big caps, timber, palm oil, construction and Visit Malaysia Year theme's stocks, you have already made heaps!

Once upon a time, Mr. Puzzled asked a Guru. "Guru, when it's the good time to get out of a stock market before it crashes?"

The Guru said "You know the time has come... when everyone you know is talking about buying shares..."

Well, to me, i think it's a pretty good rule of thumb. But then, come to think of it, how do you know that those Tom, Dick and Harry who will rush in for the last bull run is not You, Me and You?

okok, cut the crap. Basically, most of the market participants are quite bearish about the current stage of the market. Has it peaked? when will it peak? Who knows? but i guess everyone is thinking about the same thing. For most, it's time to make as much as you can before the correction comes...(of course, only if you're a believer of what goes up, must come down...), for some, well, i rather put my cash in the FD, and not worrying about the market too much...

Anyhow, foreign money still coming in like no nobody business, market still going up up and up. What's next? Man, gotta admit that this, is a tough time to play!

So what shall we do? watch out for 2 things

1) US Fed Fund Rate Hike
2) Japanese Yen Appreciation and/or Japanese Central Bank's decision to hike rate...

When these happen... life is gonna be tough, again.