Stocks Investing - read more blogs than local media

Blogging in Malaysia seems to have scores another milestone - reported Utusan Malaysa, possibly the most bias government-controlled print media exist today. If not for the recent 12th general election which saw the National Front led by Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi crumbled with shameful defeat, I believe Malaysian bloggers will still be looked down upon, not to mention being called “monkeys”, “jobless women” and other funny names. I’m not sure how Utusan plucked the numbers but it’s definitely puzzling to know that Malaysia has about 500,000 active bloggers (Wow!) and 70 percent of the election results were influenced by such blogs’ information.

StockTube blogged about the general election’s effect on the local stock market on 10th Mar 2008, the same and first day the stock market open for trading after the election which saw a stunning 130+ points plunge. Also written was the simple reasons why foreign investors are still adopting a “wait and see” approach without committing huge funds into the local stock market. Without new foreign funds injection is bad and to have these same investors selling right after the election is worse but the worst of all is the fact that the politicians from the National Front themselves were selling like mad. And they are still selling into strength, mind you. Just look at the performance of KLCI against the Dow Jones in the chart below.

Equally stunned by their “master’s” defeat was the government-controlled media and electronic media. They're still taking cue from the simple-majority government as far as their policies are concerned. You can still read the same denial syndrome again. They never learn do they? Central bank still thinks the economy could still grow at 6 percent. Inflation was (still) said to be at 3 percent when Singapore announced theirs at more than 6 percent. Former dictator Mahathir repetitively calls Abdullah Badawi to quit, calling him “shameless” for not resigning. Badawi stubbornly refuse to throw in the towel no matter what people call him - shameless song or not.

But really, you shouldn’t read too much into the latest politics new dawn in case you got too carried away, though it’s still hot, exciting and hilarious till today. Suffice to say while the new Pakatan Rakyat (People’s Alliance) led collectively by PKR-DAP-PAS is gaining strength, the Barisan Nasional (National Front) led by Abdullah Badawi is crumbling. Only today, more than 3-weeks after the 8th Mar 2008 election, local media theStar finally gained enough strength to report that local stock market fails to join regional rally due to, you guess it, political reason. Prior to this all the fingers were pointed at Dow Jones, blaming the old subprime crisis.

So you see, if you just rely on media such as theStar, New Straits Times, Utusan Malaysia and so on, you’re at least 3-weeks outdated. Not only are the local media slow in this aspect, the local investment research houses are equally reluctant to publish it. Worst still, you might have bought stocks thinking you had made the most brilliant decision in your life. But if you read blogs such as StockTube *grin, smack myself* you would have save some bullets for the bargain day. If you can’t afford to access StockTube blog because your pathetic boss would look over your shoulder then subscribe it via email or RSS feed.

You might want to ask if the time is ripe to enter the stock market now. The answer is a simple “No” especially if you’re aiming the blue-chips unless you’ve excessive bullets to waste. It’s a waste that short-selling cannot be performed the same and easy way as buying the stocks or else you could be smiling all the way to the bank now. That’s why trading alternative stock markets such as U.S. would keep you from falling asleep. And if you wish to try your skill trading currency, you can read here on how to try it for free.

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• General Election’s effect on local Stock Market