Tips From Gurus Of Stock Market

Here is some useful tips to be share among us as a guidance in trading on the share market. I felt it is something what we forgot or ignored. As market is now so challanging, we need more initiative to educate ourself about market outlooks and prospects. So share this with me. This too. Also this one.

Can A New Relisting Maxis Be Like An Old Delisted Maxis....Tomorrow (19 Nov 2009) Is The Day...

After disappear from Bursa for an about nearly 2 years, Maxis is comeback again. Many investors are eager to possess at least a lot of Maxis share in their portfolios. What are people saying about this on the market? Here is a comment. Many fund and individual are also showing great interest on it as per this report. While one of a research house has pegged a fair value of RM for Maxis . Before this many disappointed about the allocation of the Maxis IPO as reported here. One is saying that the existing rival is worth to buy. So tomorrow (19 Nov 2009) will answer it. Check the Best Buy/Sell column on the Bursa Malaysia from 8.30am till trading start at 9.00am.They will reflect the opening price of Maxis Berhad and The Stock Short Name, Stock Code and ISIN Code of MAXIS is "MAXIS", "6012" and "MYL6012OO008" respectively. The listing of and quotation for these shares on the Main Market under the "Trading Services" sector will be granted with effect from 9.00 a.m., Thursday, 19 November 2009, on a "Ready" basis pursuant to the Rules of Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad. So Good Luck to those succesfully subscribe the Maxis IPO recently.

Dismay over small share allocation

PETALING JAYA: Maxis Bhd’s huge shares offering was lapped up by investors hungry for quality local stock, but some investment funds and their clients were dismayed by the “small” portion of initial public offering (IPO) shares allocated to them.
Industry sources said some local funds received less than 5% of the amount they had bid for, despite many putting in bids at strike prices (meaning that they were willing to take the shares at any given price) or at the top end of the indicative price range.
Maxis on Tuesday said the institutional offering – excluding shares reserved for cornerstone investors and bumiputera investors approved by the International Trade and Industries Ministry (Miti) – was 3.7 times oversubscribed.

That translated to a demand worth RM19.3bil from local and foreign fund managers for shares valued at RM5.3bil offered by Maxis at RM5 each. The 1.06 billion shares allocated under the institutional portion was distributed almost in equal part between local and foreign fund managers.
Meanwhile, the retail portion of 212.3 million IPO shares was oversubscribed by 1.8 times.
In total, Maxis attracted bids worth RM26.5bil for its IPO of 2.25 billion shares.
Maxis’ share sale raised RM11.2bil, which makes it the biggest IPO in South-East Asia to date.
James Lau, senior director-equities of Kenanga Investment Bank Bhd, shares his clients’ disappointment at receiving only a small allocation of Maxis stock.
“Even though the small allocation to funds bodes well for the post-listing market of Maxis shares, we had hoped for more shares,” he said, adding that in the bigger picture, with Maxis shares being offered as an “entree” to attract first-time foreign investors here, the small allocation to local funds may be a justified trade-off.
Lau said, however, that he hoped for more transparency in the allocation process “so that investors can better understand the situation and don’t feel overly disappointed by the small allocation.”
Maxis said the book-building exercise attracted “significant” foreign interest, including from 10 new institutional funds, as well as sovereign wealth funds.
“They (the promoters) could have done more roadshows to explain the whole deal to a wider group of investors,” said Rusli Abu Yamin, chief investment officer (CIO) at ASM Investment Services.
“That would have reduced a lot of confusion on how the IPO was structured and priced,” he added.
ASM Investment Services is a wholly-owned unit of Amanah Saham Mara Bhd, which gets its portion of Maxis shares via reserved units for Miti-approved bumiputra investors.
ASM put in a bid of RM5.50, but as the final price was reduced to RM5 a piece for institutional investors, the difference would be refunded to ASM within 10 days.
Rusli said the excess fund could be parked in money markets, and the issuing house should consider sharing part of the interest earned during that 10-day period with investors.
“Some funds get less than what they had applied for and given the size of the bids, the amount could be substantial,” he said.
OSK-UOB Investment Unit Trust Management Bhd CIO Jason Chong said he was “happy” with the amount of Maxis shares allocated to the fund.
“The IPO was priced at the lower end, which is good for us as this translates to higher upside potential,” he said.

xtracted from : The Star By RISEN JAYASEELAN and IZWAN IDRIS

How to detect some early financial warnings in companies Or how to smell a rat

TRADING volume on the stock market has recently been getting higher again. Some retail investors, who were absent from the recent rally, have started to get excited.

Over the past few months, investors were mainly focusing on good quality stocks, selling at a cheap level. However, attention has started to switch to poor quality stocks lately. Even though sometimes investors may be able to make money by betting on those stocks, we still need to be careful about the fundamentals of the companies. In this article, we will look at how to detect some early financial warnings.

A lot of companies like to make corporate announcements during the bull market. We agree that some of the announcements were genuine, but many corporate proposals were simply too good to be true.

If we analyse further, we will notice that the proposals might be way beyond the capabilities of the companies. Sometimes, the management’s projections of sales and profits were far beyond the past history. The capital expenditure requirements were well above the companies’ borrowing capacities.

Besides, the time required to turn the projects into profits might be too long. Nevertheless, as a result of the announcements, the stock prices would surge and normally, the main sellers behind might be the key owners.

We have also seen some proposals that turned out to be profitable. The companies did make profits in the first few years. However, the high growth in expansion stretched the capabilities of the top management, who might not have the experience and ability to run big businesses. They might have the experience to manage RM100mil turnover businesses. However, when the turnover surged beyond RM1bil per year, they might have problems. In fact, the main concerns to the companies were the top management team which lacked skills and experience to run big businesses.

We need to be careful if there are any changes to the key managers of the companies, auditors or accounting firms. The key managers are referred to the positions like chief executive officers and financial controllers. Besides, frequent changes in auditors provide serious financial warnings, especially the change from a reputable audit firm to an unknown one.

How to smell a rat or how to detect some early financial warnings in companies

Companies will soon start to report their financial results for the period ended Sept 30. In Malaysia, often good companies will try to announce their results before the deadline of Nov 30. However, if they are having difficulties in providing their financial statements, normally, we will expect some bad news to be announced. One of the possible explanations behind the delay is that the companies need more time to rectify certain financial problems.

Another potential sign of financial warning is when the companies venture into unrelated businesses. Previously, we saw many Bursa Malaysia second board companies going into financial distress in 1997/98 when they departed from their core businesses in manufacturing and ventured into property development activities.

We need to understand that when the company owners enter into areas that are not their core competencies, they might not be able to apply the knowledge and experiences accumulated previously. Instead, they would have to go through the entire learning curve again, which would result in the management taking a lot of time in managing those unrelated businesses.

In such situations, investors will need to pay attention and analyse whether those new ventures will be able to add value to the shareholders’ wealth. Some companies like to change their names after venturing into new businesses. Too frequent name changes may also imply that the companies have been shifting their core business focus and directions, which may not be good news to the shareholders.

Litigation is also another warning sign. We need to pay attention to companies that are involved in litigations, which may be either attributed to the companies being sued or they are suing someone else. These litigations may divert the management’s attention from day-to-day business operations. As a result, they may affect the companies’ performance as well.

One of the common questions asked by shareholders during any AGM is the directors’ fees. We need to analyse whether the fees paid are in proportion to the companies’ profitability. Sometimes, certain companies make excessive perks for owners as well as their employees or the lifestyle of the key owners is simply not consistent with the companies’ profitability.

The above are a few of the more common financial warnings that potential or existing shareholders must pay attention to when analysing the companies for investment. More importantly, we need to remain vigilant at all times and pay attention to the latest development of the companies.

by Ooi Kok Wah

Should I go against the market?

AS the stock market continues to move higher, a lot of investors are wondering when it will come down again. Those who have been involved in futures trading may be tempted to short the KL Composite Index (KLCI) futures contracts.
Unfortunately, each time they start shorting the index, the market surges even higher and touches a new high. As a result, they are forced to cover their short positions as the market turns against them. In this article, we will look at how to apply contrarian strategies in the present market conditions.
Contrarian strategy 1: only correct when the market turns around
Investors need to be careful when using contrarian strategies. These strategies are only effective when the market starts to turn around, otherwise, investors will end up being wrong.
Contrarian investors feel that most people in the market tend to get carried away by the market sentiment, so if they keep calm, they will have a better position by taking actions that are the opposite of what others are doing. They believe that they can make big money by betting against popular investment trends.
In the current stock market situation, even though the average daily-trading volume is about one billion shares, we notice that there are not many retail investors. The market is mainly filled with some big fund managers or day traders. Some investors who managed to catch stocks at cheaper prices may have been selling most of their holdings lately.
Unfortunately, the market continues to trade higher than previous selling prices. In such situation, the worst mistake for some retail investors is to abandon their contrarian strategies and start buying back the shares that they disposed off earlier at even higher prices.
Normally, when everyone starts to think that the stock market will continue to go up, that is the signal of an impending market crash. Hence, investors need to be patient to wait for the right prices before buying back those stocks.
There is also the danger that some investors may start accumulating their stocks too early. We believe that “the panic may be over, but not the crisis”. Even though there are signs that the overall economy may be on its way to recovery, we think it will take some time before we can see the real recovery of the stock market.

We need to understand that once the fund managers feel that the stock prices are far above the fundamental of the stocks, they may stop accumulating stocks.
As a result, due to a lack of demand, the market may start dipping lower again with dwindling trading volumes. It may take a long time before the market turns higher again.
We saw this phenomenon in 2000-2001 when the market dipped slowly with very thin volume for a 15-month period, with the KLCI tumbling from about 1,000-level in February 2000 to 550-level in May 2001, a total decline of about 45%.
Investors need to take note that unless they have deep pockets to average down their purchase prices over a long period, they may run out of funds before the market reaches the bottom.
One way to avoid accumulating stocks too early is by adopting the filter rule strategy proposed by Alexander (1961). He proposed that we should only buy stocks when the market touches the lowest point and starts recovering for k% from its low and sell stocks when the market discovers the peak and starts falling for k% from its high.
This strategy may reduce the feeling of regret from selling stocks too early. Given that we may never know when the market touches its peak, it may be a good strategy to let the market find the top and only start selling when the market confirms the declining trends.
Contrarian Strategy 2: Buying neglected firms
Recently, as the result of the merger between main and second board companies into the Main Market, we notice that some second board companies, which have good fundamentals but previously lacked analysts’ coverage, are starting to get the attention of investors.
We believe these companies may provide good buying opportunities for investors who have missed out on the opportunities of accumulating blue chip stocks at cheap prices. Some academic studies have shown that the returns from buying neglected firms, over a long-term period, may be better than investing in “popular” companies.

xtracted from :The Star (Ooi Kok Hwa)

As an investor can I rely on technical analysis?

Investors need proper training as this area requires a lot of subjective judgement and experiences.
ALL the famous investment gurus in the world, like Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett, say that we should not try to time the stock market because we will not be able to predict its movement.
However, professional technical analysts believe that investors are able to time the market by looking into the historical price trends and trading volumes. They believe that the weakness in fundamental analysis is it is unable to provide the timing to buy or sell stocks.
Fundamental analysts are able to detect good quality stocks for long-term investments. However, they do not know when to accumulate or to dispose the stocks.
Technical analysts believe that a lot of good fundamental factors for certain stocks may have already been reflected in the stock prices. As a result, any investor who would like to purchase the stocks may not be able to make gains as the stock prices have already included the good fundamental factors.
Nevertheless, if investors know technical analysis, they may be able to discover the stocks much earlier than the others. A lot of time, these fundamental factors may not be made known to the public.
However, some investors, who are aware of these fundamental factors, may start accumulating the stocks. Technical analysts believe that these early actions can be detected by looking into charts.
Technical analysis is based on the interaction between the supply and demand for the stocks, which can be caused by the rational and irrational factors.
Technical analysts believe that prices move in trend and can persist for a long time until something happens to the stocks.
Even though technical analysts do not know all the factors that influence the buying or selling of all stocks, they believe that investors are able to know the actual shifts in the supply and demand of stocks by looking into their market price behaviour.
One of the advantages of technical analysis is that it is simple to use. Compared with the fundamental analysis, investors do not need to read financial statements before using technical analysis. Nevertheless, investors are still required to have adequate knowledge on how to interpret various types of charts.
Given that there are many types of charts, investors may get confused as some charts may indicate buying signals while others may indicate selling signals.
Sometimes, when there are too many investors using different types of charts, the effects may be neutralised between each other.
For market efficiency believers, they postulate that it is not possible make any gains by merely looking into stock prices and volumes because they believe that the stock market may have reflected all these factors. They label this phenomenon as weak-form of market efficiency.
In most academic researches on testing weak-form stock market efficiency (testing the market based on stock prices and volumes), they discovered that investors cannot consistently outperform the market.
Fundamental analysts believe that by merely looking into technical charts alone may sometimes cause investors buying into poor fundamental stocks.
However, technical analysts argue that these negative factors can also be detected using charts because poor fundamental stocks will normally face heavy selling by investors.
The technical charts will indicate when the stocks start facing selling pressures and investors need to sell the stocks once the charts indicate the selling signals.
Some investors believe that there may be self-fulfilling prophecy on technical analysis.
When many people are using the same technical chart on one company and the chart shows a buy on the stock, many investors will follow to buy the stocks. These may cause the stock prices to go up and reinforce the idea that the technical rules work.
We believe that investors need to know both fundamentals as well as technical analysis as these two methods can complement each other. Both methods have their strengths and weaknesses.
Sometimes we may want to use fundamentals to identify the stocks for purchase, then, use technical analysis to gauge when to buy the stocks; or we can use technical analysis to select stocks and use fundamentals to confirm the quality of the companies.
In conclusion, as technical analysis requires a lot of subjective judgement and experiences, we believe that investors need to have a proper training in this area. Interested investors are encouraged to read books related to this area to have better understanding.

We need to know who we are in order to do well in stock market investing

THE recent strong market rally caught many investors by surprise again.
Most investors, including some analysts, predicted earlier that it was just a bear market rally. They have been hoping the market will turn down again. Unfortunately, it has been moving up strong without looking back.
For investors who have not invested during the recent low in March 2009, they are getting very worried as they are not benefitting from the recent rally. They may even wonder whether they should jump in now in order not to miss the boat.
Another group of investors, who have managed to catch some stocks at cheap prices during the previous market low, are also facing the dilemma of whether to lock in their gains now or continue to hold on to their gains. Some even regretted selling their stocks too early last month.
We all know that it is very difficult, in fact impossible, to predict stock market movement. Most investment gurus will refuse to time the market.
Howard Kahn and Cary Cooper published a book titled “Stress in the Dealing Room” in 1993. According to their surveys done on 225 dealers, 73.8% of them suffered from fear of “misreading the market.” Most dealers have the same problem of acquiring and handling information.
We believe that in order to do well in stock investing, we need to know ourselves, especially in controlling our emotion on greed and fear.
Due to information overloading, our emotion is highly influenced by the news that we read. Each time we feel that the market is getting bullish and time to buy stock, the overall market will collapse the moment we enter.
On the other hand, the moment we fear that it will drop further and we have decided to cut losses, we will notice the market will recover after that. Most of the time, the prices of stocks that we sold were at the lowest of the recent fall.
In order to control our greed and fear, we need to ask ourselves whether the market has discounted the news that we have received.
For example, many analysts have been bullish lately, having the opinion that the worst may be over for the market based on the recent economic indicators which showed that the overall economy may have stopped contracting or is on its way to recovery.
Nevertheless, the recent strong market rally would have discounted this bullish news. In fact, we need to ask ourselves whether the current stock prices can be supported by the fundamentals for certain listed companies.
In our experience, in most cases, the moment we feel like buying stocks is the best time to sell them while the moment that we feel like selling them is in fact the best time to buy. We can apply this contrarian theory quite successfully in most periods.
Sometimes, if we are taking in too much contradicting information and, as a result, get confused over the market direction, we feel that the best strategy is to stay away from the market until we have a better and clearer picture of the overall market or the economic situation.
We should not be influenced by other opinions.
There are times that we need to follow our heart. Sometimes, our hearts try to warn us from taking hasty investment decisions. However, we refuse to follow our intuition but instead, choosing to get influenced by others or the information that we read and ending up making mistakes.
In conclusion, we need to maintain our concentration.
We should not be led by the market sentiments regardless whether it is on the way up or crashing down fast. We need to go back to the fundamental of economic situation and the companies’ performance and future prospects.
One way to minimise the feeling of regret is to stagger our purchase and selling. We will only know the peak when the market starts turning downwards and vice versa. Therefore, by staggering, we will have an averaging effect rather than taking a one-time hit, especially if it is at the wrong timing.

America will overcome Country’s best days lie ahead, says Buffett --- Boleh Percaya Kah Ni?

Malas dah nak copy tp sesiapa yg interested nak baca just click here

How long should investors hold their stock investments?

here is some tips by the expertise just click here

Pastikan dahulu kesahihan status halal di kopitiam

KOPITIAM atau kedai kopi yang menyediakan roti bakar berserta nasi lemak dan kuih-muih semakin popular di kalangan sesetengah penduduk Islam negara ini. Perniagaan yang dipelopori oleh masyarakat Cina ini dikatakan wujud di Tanah Melayu sejak 1938 lagi. Sehingga kini pelbagai jenama kopitiam muncul bagaikan cendawan tumbuh selepas hujan, berikutan permintaan menggalakkan.
Sebagai individu Muslim, persoalan yang perlu diteliti sebelum sesuatu makanan atau minuman dimasukkan ke mulut ialah adalah ia halal di sisi syariat?
Kelihatannya dewasa ini tidak ramai yang mengambil berat persoalan itu. Mungkin yang penting bagi mereka ialah apa yang dimakan menepati selera dan mengenyangkan perut.
Namun jika ditinjau kaitan makanan dengan syariat, isunya bukan sekadar makanan dan minuman yang menyelerakan tetapi ia boleh menjadi penyebab seseorang dihumban ke neraka. Rasullulah SAW pernah bersabda yang bermaksud: Setiap daging yang tumbuh daripada yang haram maka neraka adalah tempat yang layak baginya.
Lebih daripada itu umat Islam diseru agar sentiasa memelihara diri dan keluarga daripada terjerumus ke dalam neraka. Sebagai mana firman Allah SWT yang bermaksud: "Wahai orang yang beriman! Peliharalah diri kamu dan keluarga kamu daripada neraka yang bahan-bahan bakarnya ialah manusia dan batu (berhala);
Neraka itu dijaga dan dikawal oleh malaikat-malaikat yang keras kasar (layanannya); mereka tidak menderhaka kepada Allah dalam segala yang diperintahkan-Nya kepada mereka, dan mereka pula tetap melakukan segala yang diperintahkan. (Surah al-Tahrim ; ayat 6)
Tindakan sesetengah pengusaha kopitiam menggaji pekerja Islam di premis mereka, adalah suatu usaha yang patut dipuji tetapi ia belum menjamin aspek halal yang dituntut dalam Islam. Mereka seharusnya lebih prihatin dengan keperluan umat Islam untuk mendapatkan makanan halal lagi suci.
Bermula daripada kopi yang disajikan sehinggalah kepada aspek kebersihan pinggan mangkuk perlu selari dengan kehendak syariat. Begitu juga barangan seperti mee, daging salai, rempah-ratus dan lain-lain yang diimport daripada negara luar seperti Taiwan, Hong Kong dan China yang turut diragui sama ada halal ataupun tidak.
Lebih membimbangkan lagi apabila logo 'Halal' Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia (Jakim) tiruan digunakan dengan meluas semata-mata untuk melariskan barangan dan mengelabui mata pengguna Islam yang tidak prihatin.
Pengusaha kopitiam seharusnya mendapatkan pengiktirafan sijil halal daripada Jakim mahupun Majlis Agama Islam Negeri, sebagai usaha menarik lebih ramai pelanggan Islam ke premis mereka. Langkah ini perlu dipertimbangkan dengan serius memandangkan di sesetengah kopitiam, 70 peratus pengunjung adalah penganut Islam.
Orang Islam pula perlu lebih sensitif terhadap isu halal kerana ia boleh memberi kesan kepada peribadi dan keimanan seseorang.
Kajian oleh majalah The Halal Journal berkaitan kesedaran masyarakat Islam terhadap produk halal di beberapa negara Eropah, Asia Barat dan Asia Tenggara yang berakhir pada 2007 menunjukkan, 94 hingga 98 peratus responden bersetuju untuk membeli hanya produk berasaskan daging yang halal.
Sementara itu, hanya 40 hingga 64 peratus responden bersetuju makanan yang telah siap diproses seperti roti dan lain-lain mestilah berstatus halal.
Statistik ini jelas menunjukkan, kesedaran umat Islam terhadap produk makanan halal yang telah diproses masih ditahap sederhana. Sehubungan itu, pihak yang bertanggungjawab seperti Jakim dan Persatuan Pengguna Islam Malaysia melipatgandakan lagi usaha mempromosi produk halal kepada seluruh masyarakat Islam agar kewajipan umat Islam mendapatkan makanan yang halal dapat dipenuhi.
Selain itu, ia juga berupaya membangkitkan sensitiviti umat Islam untuk lebih prihatin mencari yang halal sahaja.
Pihak berwajib juga diharap dapat memperbanyakkan lagi aktiviti penguatkuasaan ke atas logo halal agar pihak yang tidak bertanggungjawab dibawa ke pengadilan.
Kita tidak mahu ada pihak yang mengambil kesempatan meraih keuntungan lumayan daripada trend lepak di kopitiam tanpa mengambil kira sensitiviti masyarakat Islam.

Oleh MOHD. ALI MUHAMAD DON
Pensyarah Kanan
Pusat Pemikiran dan Kefahaman Islam
UiTM Kampus Bandaraya, Johor Bahru.

Off Topic - Siapa Yahudi? Siapa Orang Islam?

SEJAK 18 hari ini seluruh dunia meratap gara-gara kezaliman Israel. Tentera Zionis terus-menerus mengebom, mengganyang rakyat Palestin. Israel, nampaknya terlalu berkuasa.
Saya tidak 'berkuasa' lagi untuk mengulas panjang mengenai peperangan sebelah pihak itu. Tapi saya ingin berkongsi dengan pembaca sekelian, siapa sebenarnya Yahudi ini dan mengapa mereka terlalu berkuasa.

Kita harus kaji secara akademik, ilmiah untuk mengetahui siapa mereka ini.
Saya amat tertarik dengan tulisan seorang penulis bebas, yang juga Pengarah Eksekutif Pusat Penyelidikan dan Kajian Keselamatan (CRSS) Pakistan, Dr. Farrukh Saleem (rujuk http://www.masada2000.org/Powerful-Jews.html) mengenai soal tersebut. Jadikanlah tulisan itu sebagai tatapan dan renungan kita semua - ke mana kita dan ke mana umat Islam harus pergi selepas ini. Dan, siapa yang harus disalahkan? (Nota: Sedikit sebanyak ia juga akan menjawab surat-surat dan SMS yang dihantar untuk ruangan Forum, Utusan Malaysia yang meminta ditonjolkan apakah produk di belakangnya Yahudi).

Begini tulisan beliau:
Hanya ada 14 juta Yahudi di muka bumi ini; tujuh juta di Amerika, lima juta di Asia, dua juta di Eropah dan 100,000 di Afrika. Bagi setiap orang Yahudi ada 100 orang Muslim (1:100). Namun, jika dicampur semua sekali, Yahudi lebih 100 kali berkuasa daripada orang Islam. Mengapa ini berlaku?

Siapa mereka ini?
Nabi Isa (Jesus of Nazareth) ialah Yahudi. Albert Einstein, saintis zaman moden paling terkemuka dan disebut oleh majalah Time sebagai 'Manusia Abad ini' ialah seorang Yahudi; Sigmund Freud - melalui teori id, ego dan super-ego ialah bapa psikoanalisis, juga seorang Yahudi; begitu juga Karl Marx, Paul Samuelson dan Milton Friedman.
Selain mereka banyak lagi orang Yahudi yang hasil kebijaksanaan mereka berupaya menghasilkan keperluan untuk kita semua: Benjamin Rubin memperkenalkan jarum suntikan pelalian.
Johas Salk mereka vaksin polio yang pertama. Gertrude Elion mencipta ubat melawan leukemia. Baruch Blumberg mencipta vaksin Hepatitis B. Paul Ehrlich menemukan rawatan untuk siflis. Elie Metchnikoff menang Hadiah Nobel untuk penyakit berjangkit. Bernard Katz menang Hadiah Nobel kerana kajian mengenai transmisi neuromuskular.
Andrew Schally penerima Nobel dalam kajian endokrinologi (berkaitan sistem endokrin dan kencing manis). Aaron Beck menemui terapi kognitif (rawatan mental, kesugulan dan fobia).
Gregory Pincus membangunkan pil perancang keluarga yang pertama. George Wald menang Nobel bagi kajian mata manusia, Standley Cohen dianugerahi Hadiah Nobel dalam kajian embriologi (kajian janin dan perkembangannya). Willem Kolff mencipta mesin dialisis (mencuci) buah pinggang.
Sejak 105 tahun, 14 juta Yahudi menang 15 dozen Hadiah Nobel, sementara tiga dimenangi oleh 1.4 bilion umat Islam.
Stanley Mezor mencipta mikrocip pertama. Leo Szilards membangunkan reaktor rangkaian nuklear pertama; Peter Schultz (kabel gentian optik); Charles Adler (lampu isyarat); Benno Strauss (besi tahan karat - stainless steel); Isador Kisee (sistem suara di pawagam); Emile Berliner (mikrofon untuk telefon) dan Charles Ginsburg (alat pita rakaman).
Saudagar jenama terkaya dunia juga dikuasai Yahudi iaitu Ralph Lauren (Polo), Levis Strauss (Levi's Jeans), Howard Schultz (Starbuck's), Sergey Brin (Google), Michael Dell (Dell Computers), Larry Ellison (Oracle), Donna Karan (DKNY), Irv Robbins (Baskin & Robbins) dan Bill Rossenberg (Dunkin Donuts).
Richard Levin, presiden universiti tersohor Yale Universiti ialah seorang Yahudi. Henry Kissinger, Joseph Lieberman dan Madeleine Albright (bekas-bekas Setiausaha Negara AS); Alan Greenspan (bekas pengerusi Rizab Persekutuan AS di bawah Reagan, Bush, Clinton dan Bush); Maxim Litvinov (bekas Menteri Luar Soviet Union); David Marshal (bekas Ketua Menteri pertama Singapura); Isaac Isaacs (bekas Gabenor Jeneral Australia); Benjamin Disraeli (negarawan dan penulis Britian); Yevgeny Primkov (bekas Perdana Menteri Rusia dan bekas jeneral KGB); Jorge Sampaio (bekas Presiden Portugal); Herb Gray (bekas Timbalan Perdana Menteri Kanada); Pierre Mendes (Perdana Menteri ke-143 Perancis); Michael Howard (bekas Setiausaha Negara British); Bruno Kreisky (bekas Canselor Austria) dan Robert Rubin (bekas Setiausaha Perbendaharaan AS).
Dalam dunia media, orang Yahudi yang terkemuka ialah Wolf Blitzer (CNN); Barbara Walters (ABC News); Eugene Meyer (Washington Post); Henry Grunwald (Ketua Editor Time); Katherine Graham (penerbit The Washington Post); Joseph Lelyyeld (Editor Eksekutif, The New York Times) dan Max Frankel (The New York Times).
Dermawan dan penyangak mata wang, George Soros ialah Yahudi. Dia menderma AS$4 bilion untuk membantu ahli sains dan universiti serata dunia.
Walter Annenberg menderma untuk membina ratusan perpustakaan berjumlah AS$2 bilion.
Di Olimpik, Mark Spitz membolot tujuh pingat emas. Lenny Krayzelburg ialah pemegang tiga kali pingat emas Olimpik. Spitz Krayzelburg dan Boris Becker adalah Yahudi.
Tahukah anda bahawa pelakon pujaan Harrison Ford, George Burns, Tony Curtis, Charles Bronson, Sandra Bullock, Billy Cystal, Woody Allen, Paul Newman, Peter Sellers, Dustin Hoffman, Michael Douglas, Ben Kingsley, Kirk Douglas, Willian Shatner, Jerry Lewis dan Peter Falk semuanya Yahudi?
Tambahan lagi, Hollywood sendiri diwujudkan oleh orang Yahudi. Antara pengarah dan penerbit, Steven Spielberg, Mel Brooks, Oliver Stone, Aaron Spelling (Beverly Hills 90210), Neil Simon (The Odd Couple), Andrew Vaina (Rambo 1- 2-3), Michael Man (Starsky and Hutch), Milos Forman (One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest), Douglas Fairbanks (The Thief Of Baghdad) and Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters) - semuanya adalah Yahudi.
Mempengaruhi
Washington yang merupakan ibu negara Amerika Syarikat, mempunyai satu pertubuhan lobi yang amat berkuasa. Ia dikenali sebagai Jawatankuasa Hal Ehwal Awam Amerika Israel (AIPAC) yang berupaya mempengaruhi Kongres meluluskan resolusi memuji dan 'membuat apa saja' demi Israel.
Tahukah lagi bahawa William James Sidis dengan IQ 250-300 ialah manusia tercerdik. Dia ialah Yahudi.
Jadi, mengapa mereka ini terlalu berkuasa?
Jawapannya: Pendidikan, pelajaran, ilmu.
Mengapa umat Islam terlalu lemah?
Dianggarkan 1,476,233,470 Muslim di atas muka bumi Allah ini. Satu bilion di Asia, 400 juta di Afrika, 44 juta di Eropah dan enam juta di Amerika. Setiap lima insan manusia ialah Muslim. Setiap seorang Hindu ada dua orang Islam, setiap seorang Buddha ada dua orang Islam dan setiap seorang Yahudi ada beratus orang Islam. Mengapa orang Islam terlalu lemah?
Ini jawapannya: Terdapat 57 negara anggota OIC dan jika dicampur semua cuma ada kira-kira 500 buah universiti; atau sebuah universiti untuk setiap tiga juta orang Islam.
AS mempunyai 5,758 universiti dan India ada 8,407. Pada 2004, Shanghai Jiao Tong Universiti membuat kajian 'Kedudukan Akademik Universiti-universiti Dunia' - dan menakjubkan - tiada satu pun universiti-negara Islam yang berada di puncak 500.
Data yang dikumpul dari UNDP, tahap celik huruf di negara maju ialah hampir 90 peratus dan 15 negara itu mempunyai 100 peratus celik huruf. Negara majoriti penduduk Islam, purata kadar celik huruf ialah sekitar 40 peratus dan tiada negara yang mempunyai 100 peratus semuanya celik huruf.
Sekitar 98 peratus penduduk di negara maju menamatkan sekurang-kurang sekolah rendah, sementara hanya 50 peratus di negara majoriti Islam. Sekitar 40 peratus penduduk di negara maju memasuki universiti, sementara hanya 2 peratus di negara majoriti Islam.
Negara-negara majoriti Islam mempunyai 230 ahli sains bagi setiap (per) sejuta penduduk. Di AS 4,000 per sejuta, Jepun 5,000 per sejuta. Di seluruh negara Arab, penyelidik sepenuh masa ialah 35,000 dan hanya 50 juruteknik per sejuta (berbanding di negara maju 1,000 juruteknik per sejuta).
Negara Islam membelanjakan 0.2 peratus daripada KDNK untuk penyelidikan dan pembangunan (R&D) sebaliknya, di negara maju membelanjakan 5 peratus daripada KDNKnya.
Kesimpulan: Dunia Islam kurang keupayaan untuk menghasilkan ilmu pengetahuan.
Akhbar harian yang dibaca oleh setiap 1,000 orang dan jumlah judul buku yang dibaca oleh setiap sejuta orang adalah dua angka tunjuk bagi menentukan sama ada ilmu pengetahuan disalurkan ke dalam masyarakat.
Di Pakistan, hanya ada 23 akhbar harian per 1,000 rakyat Pakistan sementara nisbah di Singapura ialah 360. Di UK, jumlah judul buku per juta orang ialah 2,000 sementara di Mesir ialah 20.
Kesimpulan: Dunia Islam gagal menyalurkan ilmu pengetahuan.
Yang menariknya, jumlah terkumpul KDNK tahunan 57 buah negara ahli OIC ialah di bawah AS$2 trilion. Amerika sahaja, menghasilkan barangan dan perkhidmatan bernilai AS$12 trilion, China AS$8 trilion, Jepun AS$3.8 trilion dan Jerman AS$2.4 trilion.
Pengeluar minyak yang kaya, Arab Saudi, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar secara rangkuman menghasilkan barangan dan perkhidmatan (rata-rata minyak) bernilai AS$500 bilion; Sepanyol sahaja menghasilkan barangan dan perkhidmatan bernilai lebih AS$1 trilion, Poland AS$489 bilion dan Thailand AS$545 bilion.
Jadi, mengapa orang Islam tidak berkuasa dan orang Yahudi paling berkuasa?
Jawapannya ialah: Kurangnya ilmu. Kurangnya pendidikan dan kurangnya pelajaran.

Maka seruan kepada semua umat Islam ialah KUASAI LAH ILMU...Melalui PENDIDIKAN dan PELAJARAN...

When will our stock market recover?

THE world’s stock markets, including Malaysia’s, have recovered lately.
Some analysts have viewed this recovery as window dressing activities while others have called it bear market rallies.
And there are those who wonder whether we have seen the worst.
They are eager to know whether the current stock market level has reflected all the negative news, like the sharp drop in consumer spending, higher unemployment rates or lower sales and lower profits for most of the listed companies in the coming corporate result announcements.
Every investor wants to know when will the market recover.
Some investors may be excited about the current stock market level as a lot of good quality stocks have been hammered down to attractive levels, and are keen to start accumulating them.
However, if the stock market continues to dip for long periods, certain investors may run out of “bullets” to average down their purchasing prices.
Then, they will start losing interest in the stock market as they do not have cash to purchase further and their earlier purchases also start to show losses.
We need to prepare ourselves for the market turnaround.
However, we need to be patient and wait for the right time to invest.
In this article, we will look into the past two major downcycles: the 1998 crash and 2000 crash versus the current 2008 crash.
From the table, it can be seen that the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) tumbled by almost 80% in a period of 18 months during the 1998 crash versus a drop of 45% in a period of 13 months during the 2000 crash.
The percentage drop and duration of the 2000 crash were much less severe and shorter compared to the 1998 crash.
For the current 2008 crash, our KLCI has plunged by 47% to its lowest level of 801 points on Oct 28.
If investors believe that the current crash is quite similar to the 2000 crash, then we may have seen the worst as the current percentage drop of 47% is near the 2000 crash of 45%.
However, if the 2008 crash mirrors the 1998 crash, then we may have to wait until the KLCI touches about the 300-point level (assuming the same 79.4% drop in the 1998 crash) before we can see any real recovery.
Hence, we may have to wait for another nine months or until September 2009 (assuming the same duration of 18 months).
We do not think the 2008 crash is similar to the 1998 crash.
Our current economic situation, like central bank reserves, the health of the banking sector as well as economic fundamentals, are much better compared to 1998. However, as mentioned earlier, we need to prepare ourselves for the worst.
What to expect from here on?
Our market will try to absorb all the negative news.
As long as the market continues to drop as a result of negative news, we know we have not seen the bottom yet.
We have to wait for the day when the stock market refuses to come down even when it is loaded with massive negative news; that should be the right time to buy.
Unfortunately, based on our past observations, by then most investors may not have any more cash to purchase or they will still worry about the economic situation.
Investors need to understand that stock market cycles are always ahead of economic cycles.
Normally, when the stock market hits the bottom, the economic situation is uncertain or is still getting worse.

xtrated frm : The Star Online 31/12/08 written by Ooi Kok Hwa

Planning to buy penny stocks?

MANY counters have been heavily battered following the recent stock market meltdown, and they continue to trade at historically low valuations. What’s even more attractive is that many counters, including some fundamentally good ones, have now become penny stocks and the list keeps growing as the bear continues its rampage on the market.
In Malaysia, penny stocks are defined as counters that trade below RM1 per share.
Under normal market conditions, penny stocks do not attract much interest, particularly among institutional investors, because they are deemed too risky and their returns rather insignificant to justify investment.
This is because penny stocks are usually associated with smallish companies that are less resilient, and do not have a sustainable business model.
“The reasons for these counters being quoted at low prices are because of the recurrent losses from their business operations and the extremely negative perception about their quality,” an analyst at a bank-backed research company explains.
Nevertheless, to some retail investors, penny stocks are cheap counters that could sometimes do wonders and provide decent returns.
At face value, these counters are highly affordable. And because they trade at such low prices, penny stocks have a limited downside risk.
This is possibly one factor that could attract some buying interest, particularly in the current volatile market condition, as investors seek to cap their losses in the event their equity investments turn sour.
However, analysts caution investors against being carried away with penny stocks that may appear to be attractive.
This is because many of these counters are inherently risky and have a higher chance of crashing out of the market in bad times.
Generally, investors should base their buying decision on the valuation of a stock, and not its absolute price because most of the penny stocks are not worthy investments, say analysts.
But if penny stocks are their flavours, analysts advise investors to do a thorough background check on the companies before jumping on the penny-stock bandwagon.
Investing in penny stocks need more research and monitoring compared with blue-chip counters, and investors need to be alert and watch out for news affecting the companies, they say.
Selective bets
TA head of research Kaladher Govindan recommends investors who are considering buying penny stocks to look for counters with good fundamentals and those that attract strong volumes.
“As in any investment, ensuring that a counter has good business fundamentals is very important, otherwise investors can face difficulty when they want to dispose of their shares later on,” he explains.
Aseambankers head of research Vincent Khoo points out that investors should also consider the sector in which the penny stock operates to ensure that the counter can still generate positive earnings in the midst of a challenging economic environment. Counters operating in defensive sectors such as consumer food, utility, gaming and rubber gloves have a higher chance of riding through the crisis.
Another criteria to justify a penny stock investment, according to analysts, is that the companies must have sufficient cash flow or the ability to generate short-term cash to last them through the economic slowdown, otherwise investors could risk losing their entire investment in the stock.
“A company’s cash-flow position helps to gauge whether the company can remain as a going-concern when the economy enters a difficult patch few months down the road,” an analyst explains.
“Pay attention also to the gearing level of the companies, and compare that to their industry average; highly geared companies are generally not preferred because they indicate higher risk,” he adds.
Staying power
Among the penny stocks favoured by analysts include oil and gas counters such as KNM Group Bhd, Dialog Group Bhd, Scomi Group Bhd, SapuraCrest Petroleum Bhd and Alam Maritim Resources Bhd.
Other penny stocks that also look attractive to some of them are Sunway Holdings Bhd, Zelan Bhd as well as real estate investment trusts, or REITs.
The list is not exhaustive, and analysts have differing opinion on various counters. The issue is, says a broker, investors have to do their own due diligence before investing.
Having penny stocks in the portfolio can be a good idea if the counters have strong business fundamentals but investors have to be prepared to hold on to these stocks for the long term to see decent returns.
According to TA’s Kaladher, most penny stocks do not have institutional following; therefore, it is difficult to push their prices up.
Generally, they are also thinly traded, which makes them relatively less liquid and difficult to sell. So, the prices of some penny stocks can remain stagnant for quite a while.
“Turnaround for penny stocks tends to be longer, hence investors have to be patient enough to be able to enjoy the upside potential of these counters,” an analyst says.
Aseambankers’ Khoo adds that certain penny stocks have the potential to offer investors multiple gains over the long run at current entry levels.
For instance, some penny stocks are actually worth more than twice their current market prices based on the company’s future earnings potential.
These stocks are currently trading at penny-stock levels due to poor market sentiment. When the market rebounds, these stocks are expected to gradually recover to their fair values.
Strategic approach
No doubt investing in selective penny stocks can be somewhat profitable in the long run. But most analysts still feel investors should take the current opportunity to accumulate blue-chip counters instead, if they could afford them.
According to OSK head of research Chris Eng, investors’ attention now is actually more focused on blue-chip counters because they are safer assets and generally offer good dividends.
Besides, most of these counters are currently trading below their net worth (some have fallen by more than 50% year-to-date), hence making them attractive buys.
In addition, blue-chip counters are normally the first to recover when the KLCI rebounds, he says. And if there is window-dressing ahead of the year-end and New Year festivals, blue-chip counters are usually the ones that will benefit.
OSK expects the full impact of the global economic slowdown to hit the local market in the first quarter next year, with a possibility of the KLCI staging a rebound in the second half.
TA Research, on the other hand, sees the second half of next year as the time when the KLCI would reach bottom; hence the best time to buy stocks for long-term gains.
The current market valuation may be cheap (with the KLCI having fallen by more than 40% year-to-date), but many investors dare not take up long-term buying positions yet for fear of a “value-trap” – a situation where they are drawn into buying an undervalued stock, only to have the stock price decline even further after that.
Kaladher says: “Due to the prevailing uncertainties and volatile market condition, most investors are currently trading only for the short term for potential ‘bear-market rally’”.
There is definitely more downward pressure in the days ahead for the local stock market. But as stock prices continue to fall, equities as an asset class will become even more appealing from the long-term point of view. This is particularly so in the midst of low interest rates and high inflation that eats up the real value of our bank savings.
So, whether investors are looking at blue chip or selected penny stocks, they can still benefit from the future growth of these counters when the current turmoil settles.

By CECILIA KOK xtracted from The Star Online

Understanding stock market rumours

THE stock market is always filled with lots of rumours. Some may be true while others may have certain intended purposes. However, rumours can cause a great impact on companies’ stock prices.
The stock market always says that we should buy on rumours and sell on facts. Certain rumours may not be true but traders may still be able to benefit by buying the stocks based on the rumours and sell immediately once the concerned parties correct the rumours and reveal the actual facts. In this article, we will look into the various types and characteristics of stock market rumours.
What is a rumour? It is information that is not verified, but it is important and the recipients may be interested to know more about it. In most times, it is created to cause others to believe in it. It can reach out to a large group of people by transmitting through the mass media.
Over the past few weeks, there was one plantation company faced with some negative news. Some investors who owned the stock sold some of their holdings as they were worried that the rumours might be true.
Even though some of the negative rumours were true, the real impact was not as bad as the rumours that had been circulating in the market. Hence, we should not be trapped into panic selling.
Given that investors always overact on rumours, we need to be careful and check further whether those negative rumours may have been reflected in the stock prices.
Based on a study by Ralph L. Rosnow (1991) titled “Inside rumour”, there are three main types of rumours - wish, dread and non-involvement rumours.
Wish rumours are intended to create hope for some positive consequences to happen whereas dread rumours are intended to create fear and cause some disappointing consequences. Non-involvement rumours will not cause any impact to the recipients.
However, some will still want to spread them as they want to show that they are knowledgeable or they just like to do it.
How do we deal with rumours? Should we ignore or pay attention to them?
In Malaysia, based on our experience, most of the negative rumours on certain companies are true.
We need to pay attention to them. We may need to check further on the real impact from those rumours if we own the stocks. Even though sometimes they may not be true, we feel that it is safer to avoid holding on to such stocks.
On the other hand, we should put less weight on positive rumours. Sometimes certain owners like to liquidate their holdings by creating positive rumours.
Once the general public start to believe in them and start chasing the stocks, normally they will be the main sellers of those stocks. Some examples of these rumours are like “The managing director of this company is buying the stock”, “This company may be able to get some big contracts from the Government”, etc.

Rumour vs Sources

A rumour cannot travel very far if its source is not reliable. If a rumour is spreading through a reliable mass media, then it can travel very far, last longer and can cause a major impact.
Once, the rumours have been generated and start transmitting, there will be some changes to the original messages.
According to Gordon Willard Allport and Leo Joseph Postman in their study titled “The basic psychology of rumour”, there are three levels of changes to the messages - levelling, sharpening and assimilation.
At the first level, when the rumour travels, it gets shorter and more concise. This is to help it to be understood easily in order to travel further.
At the sharpening level, a lot of details will be left out. As a result, it will become clearer and more focused and can have greater intended impact. At the assimilation level, in order to have a greater impact to the recipients, the rumour will be added on with certain elements that are in line with the recipients’ habits, interests and sentiments.
Understanding stock market rumours can help us to know how to deal with them. In short, we should pay less attention to positive rumours.
Instead, place more attention to negative rumours on certain companies, especially those that we are interested in.

Out Of Topic

Yoga bercanggah dengan Islam?

Oleh ABDULFATAH HARON IBRAHIM

MATLAMAT yoga Hindu dan tarekat tasauf seakan-akan sama iaitu mahukan mystical union atau fang atau lebur diri. Latihan pernafasan ada dalam yoga juga dalam tasauf tarekat Naqsyabandiyah. Isu ini bukanlah baru.
Kedengaran banyak rungutan kebelakangan ini kerana orang ramai amat tidak senang dengan program televisyen di negara ini yang menggalakkan orang ramai bersenam cara yoga. Mereka ingin tahu tentang yoga dan Islam.
Penulis berpendapat memang ada pengaruh yoga Hindu dalam doktrin tasauf Islam. Matlamat yoga dan tasauf seakan-akan sama iaitu mahu mencapai mystical union dengan Allah atau nirwana. Ini adalah hampir menyamai fana dalam tasauf Islam.
Jika perkara ini hanya kebetulan, tasauf sudah mengadakan bidaah; jika memang hakikat ini adalah pengaruh wahat al-wujud Hindu (bermaksud Brahma atau Tuhan ialah segala-galanya). Ini bererti tarekat dan tasauf adalah Islam kehinduan.
Hakikat ini boleh disaksikan dengan jelas apabila mengkaji matlamat senaman yoga termasuk pentingnya berlatih cara pernafasan. Tarekat Naqsyabandiyah juga ada latihan pernafasan.
Penulis pernah terlihat sekumpulan pelajar duduk di tanah lapang dan bersama mereka seorang Sikh menyebut 'om' atau 'aum' jelas kedengaran beberapa kali. Selepas itu penulis lihat bagaimana mereka berlatih melakukan pelbagai gaya senaman yoga (pelbagai gaya kedudukan badan dalam mengamalkan senaman yoga).
Buku-buku yoga dalam bentuk saiz poket dengan pelbagai judul boleh didapati di kedai-kedai buku, sama ada di dalam atau di luar kampus universiti itu. Ini menunjukkan yoga mendapat perhatian masyarakat setempat.
Masyarakat Barat khususnya Amerika Syarikat (AS) adalah masyarakat mengejar kebendaan yang tidak mengenal puas menjadikan rohaniah mereka kekosongan.
Semasa di Universiti Columbia, New York, penulis sempat memerhati aktiviti di sebuah gereja di pinggir kampus. Hanya beberapa orang berumur yang berulang-alik sembahyang pada hari Ahad di gereja itu. Pemuda dan pemudi tidak kelihatan. Gejala ini menunjukkan bahawa gereja tidak dapat mempengaruhi jiwa muda mereka.
Penulis juga berkesempatan memerhati dan mendengar ramai pemuda dan pemudi rancak menyeru: 'Hare Krisna Hare Rama Hare Hare' di jalan-jalan terbuka, berpakaian kuning membalut badan seperti sari Buddha dengan memalu gendang dan alat-alat muzik India yang lain.
Kumpulan ini mempunyai 26 cawangan termasuk di luar AS iaitu Hamburg, London, Paris, Toronto dan Vancouver. Itu pengalaman tahun 1970-an.
Melihat yoga dari dekat ialah mencantum dan mengaitkan roh individu dengan roh universal di mana sekali imbas pandangan itu adalah janggal, tetapi apabila kita renungi matlamat asas Kristian, kenyataan tersebut adalah munasabah.
Perbezaan asas di antara kedua-dua kenyataan ini ialah bagi Kristian, kesatuan itu selepas mati, manakala bagi yoga, dengan latihan yang gigih semasa hidup di dunia ini dapat mencapai penyatuan roh ketuhanan.
Apabila disebut yoga ialah mencantum dan mengaitkan roh individu dengan roh universal (Union of the Personal Spirit of God), ini menyerupai ajaran tasauf yang digelar ittihad dan/atau wahdat al-wujud dan atau al-fana.
Manakala apabila kita renungi matlamat asas Kristian iaitu penyatuan abadi roh dengan Tuhan bererti yoga sesuai dengan akidah Kristian.
Jika ini ada dalam Kristian maka konsep seperti itu tidak ada dalam Islam kecuali tasauf yang mereka gelar fana. Fana tidak ada dalam Quran dan sunah. Adakah kaum tasauf mencipta sendiri?
Adakah ini bererti bidaah diambil daripada Hindu? Ini dakhil al-Islam, bererti mereka menambah ajaran Islam. Memang Hindu agama wahdat al-wujud. Fakta ini pun sudah cukup bagi menunjukkan bahawa yoga itu ajaran agama Hindu yang menyalahi akidah Islam, tetapi tidak menyalahi ajaran tasauf Islam.
Di antara falsafah yoga adalah untuk mendapatkan ketenteraman jiwa dan kesihatan badan. Erti asal kata yoga ialah 'kok' atau ikat. Yoga adalah satu cara disiplin dan ikatan seseorang dengan roh alam.
Bhagavad Gita sebuah kitab suci Hindu adalah sumber utama ajaran yoga.
Dalam mencari ketenteraman jiwa di antara lain ialah menerima ajaran falsafah Hindu yang mengutuk kebendaan. Kerana inginkan kebendaan inilah yang menyebabkan manusia hidup gelisah dan kecewa. Buangkan keinginan tiadalah kecewa.
Mengamalkan
Berusahalah dengan sedaya upaya supaya keinginan itu dapat dikikiskan. Yang bersikap begini ialah falsafah Hindu ortodoks dan Theravada Buddhism. Mereka perlu mengamalkan yoga yang antara lain termasuklah sikap menjauhkan diri daripada perkara-perkara yang menarik berahi nafsu dengan pergi bertapa ke dalam gua-gua atau dalam rimba belantara. Kosongkan fikiran daripada sebarang keinginan.
Insan idola bagi Hindu-Buddha ialah orang yoga; orang yang berusaha membasmikan perbezaan di antara diri dan objek-objek, malah basmikan perbezaan di antara objek-objek itu sendiri.
Terdapat banyak risalah yang menerangkan bagaimanakah cara mengamal dan melakukan ansana yoga. Semua ini dengan tujuan dapat bersatu dengan roh alam.
Di antaranya sebelum melakukan ansana, yoga ini adalah dianggap penting mengetahui cara melakukannya yang betul: (a) melakukan dan menguasai cara-cara bernafas (bukan lagi seperti cara bernafas biasa sehari-hari); (b) berdoa, termasuk menyebut kalimah suci 'om' atau 'aum'; dan (c) bermeditasi. Kesemuanya ini adalah cara agama Hindu.
Cara meditasi utama ketika hendak mengamalkan yoga ialah konsentrasi pada satu titik. Ini mungkin merupakan perkara fizikal, seperti titik cahaya di dinding, memusatkan perhatian mata kepada batang hidung sendiri atau boleh jadi satu buah fikiran atau kewujudan Tuhan sendiri. Semua fikiran yang bertaburan dan perhatian yang berselerak jadi tersusun rapi ditujukan kepada maha satu.
Tujuannya ialah supaya boleh dikuasai, boleh dihapuskan atau semua fikiran yang bercelaru, sama ada datangnya dari pancaindera atau kesedaran batin diikat-sekat dengan melakukan konsentrasi. Pengamal yoga sebenar mengamalkan konsentrasi ini ke atas satu titik pada bila-bila masa, dan terhapuslah kecelaruan fikiran.
Mengamal yoga adalah keriangan sejati yang tiada taranya. Jika ada amalan pernafasan di kalangan orang Islam seperti dalam tarekat tasauf Naqshabandi, kemungkinan semuanya itu berasal dari yoga Hindu atau bidaah rekaan sendiri. Tidak boleh disebut amalan agama Islam kerana tidak ada asal dalam Quran dan sunah.
Sehingga kini tiada terdengar yoga Islam tetapi ada sebuah buku bertajuk Christian Yoga ditulis oleh seorang paderi Katholik, J. M. Dechanel. Buku ini mengatakan mengamalkan yoga digalakkan sebagai jalan ke arah merealisasikan ajaran Kristian.
Yoga sebagai 'sambungan' atau 'kok' Roh Individu dengan Roh Alam, (Atma dengan Brahma) iaitu kesatuan Roh Individu dengan Tuhan. Matlamat terakhir dalam ajaran Kristian ialah bersatu roh dengan Tuhan selepas matinya jasad, tetapi bagi Hindu dalam Hindu pun sudah boleh dicapai. Mereka gelar Tuhan itu Brahma: Atma bersatu dengan Brahma.
Bezanya dengan Kristian bersatu itu selepas mati tetapi bagi Hindu tercapainya kesatuan itu semasa nyawa masih dikandung badan di dalam dunia ini lagi.
Terdapat di kalangan orang Melayu apabila mengeluarkan nafas sebut Allah dan apabila menarik nafas sebut Hu. Amalan seperti ini digelar zikir nafas. Dalam kitab Pati Rahsia ada mengandungi bab membicarakan ilmu nafas dengan panjang lebar.
Jika ada orang yang mengamalkan senaman asana-asana tanpa memikirkan falsafahnya dan kehinduannya, jika dia berjaya sampai ke peringkat dapat beribadat dengan Brahman, dan mengalami serta mendapat keriangan yang tiada taranya, dia akan menjadi seperti kebanyakan ahli tasauf mulhid atau menganut wahdat al-wujud, syariat Islam akan menjadi ejekannya.
Hakikatnya, kurang senaman adalah salah satu penyakit kemajuan dunia moden: perang merebut hasil minyak dari dalam tanah, memaksa orang menggunakan sebarang alat bermotor bagi membolehkan minyak dijual. Hidup bernadikan segala-galanya dengan kuasa minyak, terhakislah senaman badan secara natural. Lalu orang Islam ditawarkan senaman yoga.
Secara tidak langsung dan tanpa disedari, senaman yoga ini mendorong orang Islam bakal jadi murtad menganut wahdat al-wujud Hindu. Agama Kristian ada bersefahaman dengan Hindu dalam masalah amalan senaman yoga. Islam tidak.
Semasa penulis hidup di kampung, tidak ada siapa yang merungut perlukan senaman. Kerja-kerja kampung yang pelbagai itu semuanya dilakukan dengan tenaga manual dan fizikal, bukan mesin dan enjin. Rungutan kurang senaman tidak pernah terdengar semasa penulis hidup di kampung.
Semasa hidup di kampung pada zaman itu tidak ada siapa yang memiliki kenderaan empat roda tetapi ke sana sini dengan berbasikal sahaja. Didorong oleh rasa nostalgia hidup di kampung, penulis mengayuh basikal dari rumah ke tempat kerja. Hanya mengambil masa 10 minit.
Dengan cara ini, cukuplah senaman yang diperlukan oleh badan, fikir penulis. Pada mulanya ada mata terbeliak kehairanan (barangkali) melihat penulis menunggang basikal. Penulis peduli apa.
Tetapi pada akhirnya terpaksa juga mengalah kerana laluan pejalan kaki dan orang berbasikal tidak disediakan oleh pihak berkuasa. (Tiada suara yang menggalakkan rakyat berbasikal untuk senaman, ekonomi, mengurangkan sebab-sebab pencemaran udara).
Penulis berbasikal terpaksa berkongsi jalan yang sama dilalui oleh kenderaan empat roda yang memacu seperti peluru. Pernah nyaris- nyaris dilanyak oleh peluru empat roda itu.

petikan dr Utusan Online...

Untuk renungan bersama...gunakan ilmu bukan nya akal sahaja.

A group of bears is pulling the bull

Can the bull stands as so many bears are waiting to "baham" him? Actually many factors now affected our mkt..it's not solely by credit crunch...the other factor is "keyakinan terhadap ketahanan pasaran".

Great Depression versus now

By OOI KOK HWA..

As much as there are similarities between the two crises, the damage caused by the current turmoil is likely to be less severe given the swift actions of central banks.
AS a result of the recent financial tsunami, some experts have started to ponder whether we are headed for a depression.
The current credit crunch and the meltdown in some financial institutions were quite similar to what happened during the Great Depression in the 1930s.
In this article we will analyse the reasons behind the 1929 Wall St crash, which kickstarted the Great Depression and compare it to the current situation to identify any signs that a depression is approaching.
Milton Friedman, the leading advocate of monetarism, argued that every great depression had been accompanied or preceded by a monetary collapse.
According to Ben Bernanke, the US Fed chairman, the main reason behind the Great Crash of 1929 was due to the tight monetary policies adopted during that period.
He said the high interest rates back then caused the US economy to fall into a recession that led to the great market crash in October 1929.
As the US dollar was backed by gold, the acute selling of dollars for gold resulted in a run on the dollar.
The Fed continued to increase interest rates in an effort to preserve the value of US dollar.
As a result, high interest rates caused bankruptcies for many companies.
At the peak of the Great Depression, the US unemployment rate hit 25%
To rub salt into the wound, massive withdrawals of cash by panicky depositors were the last straw that brought about the total collapse of financial institutions.
In that period, bank deposits were uninsured and the collapse of the banks caused depositors to lose their savings.
And due to the economic uncertainties, the surviving banks were reluctant to give out new loans.
Another culprit in the 1929 crash was margin financing which caused excessive speculation in the stock market.
Investors needed only to put up 10% capital and borrow the rest from the bank to invest in the stock market.
The collapse of stock prices led to margin calls and further selldowns.
Coming back to the 2008 crash, the banking and credit-market crisis was mainly due to the property boom and subprime bust.
The collapse of subprime loans sparked the credit crunch, which dragged some financial institutions into trouble.
As a result of the securitisation and the creation of innovative financial products like collateralised-debt obligations and credit-default swaps, the collapse of one financial institution had a domino effect, leading to the collapse of other financial institutions.
Now, the pertinent question is whether we are in a long bear market and heading for a depression.
We believe a depression like the one in 1929 may not happen exactly the way it did before.
Given the fast actions taken by central banks around the world, the damage caused by this crisis will be less severe than the one in 1929.
Central banks around the world have been putting in concerted efforts to make sure the global economy will not fall into a depression.
The rescue packages being implemented throughout the world will help stabilise the financial system.
We believe the reduction of interest rates and the increase in money supply will help cushion the impact of the credit crunch.
Besides, deposits placed with most financial institutions are guaranteed by central banks.
Even though the US unemployment rate may rise to 10% from 6.1% currently, it is still far below the peak of 25% hit during the Great Depression.
In the 1929 crash, the Dow Jones Industrial Average took about three years to reach bottom in July 1932 from its peak in September 1929.
From the peak to the trough the Dow lost about 90%.
The Great Depression in the US started in August 1929 and ended only in March 1933.
The stock market started to recover eight months before the US economy ended its depression.
At present, the Dow has already dropped for a year from its peak in October 2007, currently down about 37.5% against its peak of 14,164 points on Oct 9, 2007.
In view of the possible economic recession in most developed countries, we think the Dow will drop further from current levels.
Nevertheless, we believe it will recover much faster and the magnitude of the fall will be far less severe than the one in 1929.
Lastly, we believe the stock market will eventually recover.
At this point, to be more prudent, we may take a “wait and see” approach until things stabilise.

Guessing game over Valuecap’s stock picks

THE market has began to speculate which stocks state-owned fund manager Valuecap Sdn Bhd will buy, analysts say, pointing out that many investors will be looking to ride on its coat-tails.
“Investors will always look to ride on big funds like these. Whether rightly or wrongly, the participation of big funds tends to push up the share prices,” said the head of research at an investment bank.
On Monday, the government said it would give Valuecap an extra RM5 billion, boosting its fund size to some RM10 billion, so the latter can buy undervalued stocks to provide support to the recently battered stock market.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said yesterday that the government would get the RM5 billion by taking a loan from the Employees Provident Fund (EPF).
“The RM5 bilion announced for Valuecap is not part of the 2009 budget allocation, but instead is a consolidated loan from the EPF,” Najib said on the sidelines of an event in Kuala Lumpur.
Analysts voiced surprise that the extra funds would be coming from the EPF, pointing out that the fund also makes investments in the stock market.
However, some said since the funds are meant to boost the equity market, it made sense that Valuecap should be handling it rather than the EPF, as the latter allocates a substantial portion of its investment portfolio in bonds.
Valuecap, a highly-secretive fund set up in 2002 to buy undervalued stocks, invests specifically in the Malaysian equity market and is jointly owned by Khazanah Nasional Bhd, Permodalan Nasional Bhd and the Retirement Fund (Inc).
The government has left it up to Valuecap to decide how to distribute the fund.
Analysts generally believe it will be used to invest in solid index-linked stocks.
OSK Research said the funds could well be used to buy small- and medium-cap companies that present good value following the market’s recent sharp falls.
However, it believes Valuecap could get more “bang for its buck” by focusing on selected blue-chips.
In a report yesterday, OSK highlighted 11 potential targets on the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) that Valuecap may go for — MISC, Petronas Gas, DiGi, British American Tobacco, Petronas Dagangan, MAS, Sime Darby, Maybank, IOI, AMMB and MMC.
As it stands, however, funds like Valuecap will never reveal what stocks it invests in. It is obliged to make the information public only if its investments in a company exceed the five per cent threshold.
Yesterday, Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop said the extra RM5 billion being pumped in is sufficient for Valuecap to buy undervalued stocks and the government had no plans for now to give it more funds.
Some analysts, however, believe RM5 billion isn’t enough to shore up the market at all.
Citigroup’s Choong Wai Kee said the sum represents less than one per cent of the overall market capitalisation and less than five per cent of shares held by foreign strategic and portfolio investors.
And even if the full RM5 billion were to be pumped into the KLCI, it would theoretically lift up the key benchmark index by only 10 points, said OSK acting head of research Chris Eng.
“Then again, the RM5 billion would have a multiplier effect that is larger than its actual sum as the buying activity, or even anticipated buying activity by Valuecap could lift sentiment and push the KLCI higher,” he said. The thin liquidity on the stock market will also see the RM5 billion having a multiplier effect, he added.

retracted from : The Star Online - Business Times

Another Trading Instrument- FKLI

Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange Composite Index Futures Contract (FKLI)

Stock Index futures contract is one of the most useful financial instruments in today’s global economy. Even though stock index futures contracts was introduced for trading as recently as 1982; futures trading and the concept behind these financial instruments have evolved over the last few centuries. With the commencement of trading in Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange Composite Index (KLCI) futures contract (FKLI) on the Kuala Lumpur Options & Financial Futures Exchange (KLOFFE), the Malaysian capital markets have reached another plateau of maturity.

What is stock index futures contract?

Stock Index futures contract is an agreement between a seller and a buyer to respectively deliver and take delivery of a basket of shares which makes up the stock index, at predetermined price but at a specific future date. However, almost all Stock Index futures contracts (and similarly FKLI) provide for cash settlement in lieu of actual delivery of the basket of shares. The KLSE CI futures contract is a stock index futures contract that is based on the KLSE CI.

What are the FKLI contract specifications?

Contact code : FKLI


Underlying instrument : Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange Composite Index (KLCI)


Contract size : KLSE CI futures mutiplied by RM50.00


Minimum price fluctuation : 0.5 index point valued at RM25.00


Daily price limits : 20% per trading session for the respective contract months except the spot month.


Contract months : Spot month, the next month and the next two calendar quarterly months. The calendar quarterly months are March, June September and December.


Trading hours : First trading session : 0845 hours to 1245 hoursSecond trading session : 1430 hours to 1715 hours (GMT + 8.00hrs)


Final trading day : Last business day of the contract month.


Final settlement : Cash settlement based on the final settlement value.


Final settlement value : The final settlement value shall be the average value, rounded to the nearest 0.5 of an index point (values of 0.25 or 0.75 and above being rounded upwards) of the KLSE CI for the last half hour of trading on the final trading day, excepting the highest and lowest values.


Margins : Initial margins are calculated risked based and determinded by MDCH using the Theoretical Inter-market Marginign Systems (TIMS). Variation margins are based on daily marked-to-market valuation.

Does long-term investing work when bourse swings wildly?

By Noripah Kamso

FUND managers, me included, are forever telling investors to expect returns over the long-term. Results may vary from year to year, but over the long-term you may expect about nine per cent to 12 per cent potential returns annually.
We like to say things like: “In a bad year, the downside can be 10 per cent or more” and “In a good year the upside could be as high as 15 per cent or more”.
We also caution that risk and reward are inextricably intertwined, hence one should not expect to reap high returns without undergoing high risk and volatility.
However, we usually conclude, over the long-term it makes sense to invest in equities.
Now all that advice sounds good in theory but it’s hard to believe in it in reality when the market soars 26 per cent one year, then plunges 15 per cent another year, before swinging back up again. An investor wouldn’t be blamed for thinking, “This is madness! I don’t have the appetite for all these wild swings. What are those fund managers talking about?”
I hope, in this article, to shed some light on the issue and show that there is a method to the madness after all. Let’s look at how the stock market has performed since it started in 1976, as measured by the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI):
Interesting points to note from this data are (See chart):
# In its 31 years of existence, the KLCI has hit the magic nine per cent to 12 per cent return range exactly once
# In seven of those years, the KLCI lost more than 10 per cent
# In 14 of those years, the KLCI gained more than 15 per cent
# Therefore, in 21 out of its 31 years of existence, the KLCI has either really disappointed investors or made them extremely happy Going by this performance, it would seem as if fund managers don’t know what they’re talking about, because the stock market has either performed outstandingly well or very poorly.
It is true that in the majority of its years, the KLCI has been pretty volatile. That’s why we advise investing over the long term, to ride out the volatility that will happen from year to year.
If investors were to analyse the numbers from 1977 until 2007, they would be surprised to learn that the KLCI enjoyed annualised returns of 9.15 per cent per annum.
Well how about that? This figure lies within the magic range of nine per cent to 12 per cent annual returns. Analysis also shows that the KLCI has registered an average yearly return of 13.33 per cent since its inception.
It is very important that investors expect returns to fluctuate widely from year-toyear, and they should probably even welcome this volatility. It is the market’s erratic journey over the long term that enables investors to get the nine per cent to 12 per cent annualised returns range. This is why a fund manager can sound like a broken record sometimes because the ending of the story doesn’t change. The important thing to realise is this: in order to get to the end of the story one must begin it, by investing.
So, when is the best time to invest? In my view, it is in the investor’s best interest to invest as much and as close to the beginning of the year as possible. In fact, I would take that year-end bonus and just invest it straight away. And I’m not saying this just because I’m in the business of managing people’s funds.
The reason is very simple and clear: in 21 out of the last 31 years, the KLCI registered a positive return. Therefore funds invested at the beginning of every year would have yielded positive returns two out of every three years, or 67 per cent of the time.
Alternatively, investors should invest regularly whenever they can, either using the ringgit-cost averaging or value averaging methods, which I will explain in detail in a later article.
In conclusion, long term investing works because it rides out stock market volatilities to give the potential returns in the nine per cent to 12 per cent range. Investors should start investing to not miss out on these potentially attractive returns.

Datuk Noripah Kamso is the chief executive of CIMB-Principal Asset Management Bhd.