Asia: Still The Place To Be

The report card on year-to-date return of major indexes in Asia and the World. Asia still very much in momentum. Vietnam & China are the favourites to date. While at the third place, just waking up from its 2 years sleep...guess who? Malaysia. Malaysia Boleh!

HO CHI MINH STOCK INDEX 44.09%
SHENZHEN SE COMPOSITE IX 37.94%
KUALA LUMPUR COMP INDEX 14.53%
KARACHI 100 INDEX 14.22%
PSEi - PHILIPPINE SE IDX 13.30%
STRAITS TIMES INDEX 8.60%
S&P/ASX 200 INDEX 5.30%
BSE SENSEX 30 INDEX 4.12%
NIKKEI 225 3.59%
HANG SENG INDEX 2.92%
STOCK EXCH OF THAI INDEX 2.06%
KOSPI INDEX 0.67%
TAIWAN TAIEX INDEX -0.18%
JAKARTA COMPOSITE INDEX -0.84%

Asia's Average 10.74%


DOW JONES INDUS. AVG 2.42%
S&P 500 INDEX 2.72%
NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX 3.39%
BRAZIL BOVESPA STOCK IDX 3.33%
FTSE 100 INDEX 3.42%
CAC 40 INDEX 3.23%
DAX INDEX 5.48%
SWISS MARKET INDEX 5.91%

Selected World's Average 3.74%

Remembering Asian Crisis: The Braveheart

"They knew that major trouble was ahead: crisis would wreak havoc on their economies and their societies, and they feared that IMF policies would prevent them from taking the actions that they thought might stave off the crisis, at the same time that the policies they would insist upon should a crisis occur would worsen the impacts on their economy. They felt, however, powerless to resist. They even knew what could and should be done to prevent a crisis and minimize the damage - but knew that the IMF would condemn them if they undertook those actions and they feared the resulting withdrawal of international capital In the end, only Malaysia was brave enough to risk the wrath of the IMF; though Prime Minister Mahathir's policies-trying to keep interest rate low, trying to put brakes on the rapid flow of speculative money out of the country-were attacked from all quarters, Malaysia's downturn was shorter and shallower than any other countries."

Joseph Stiglitz, Globalization and Its Discontents

Nymex Crude Oil Futures USD58.06 per barrel
Gold Spot USD669.55 per ounce
EUR/USD 1.3150

SUT The Savings Fund SGD1.85
SUT Singapore Equity Fund SGD1.24

Movie Gods or Rock Stars?

"Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But, we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very very pissed off."
Tyler Durden, Fight Club


Nymex Crude Oil Futures USD59.99 per barrel
Gold Spot USD574.10 per ounce
EUR/USD 1.2601

SUT The Savings Fund SGD1.57
SUT Singapore Equity Fund SGD1.04

Inaugural

"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people."
V For Vendetta

Nymex Crude Oil Futures USD60.03 per barrel
Gold spot USD574.30 per ounce
EUR/USD 1.2694

SUT The Savings Fund SGD1.57
SUT Singapore Equity Fund SGD1.03