A bad day today. The market is down 321 to 9992. Mainly on the bad news coming out of the US.

Seems like I only have time to post once a month.

Not to worry, not much to say anyhow. The market seems to have picked up a little. My guru says that the market will pick up starting this month (on the chinese calendar). I am fully invested. He's been right so far.

HKG announced a new "ministerial" system. But it seems to be more of the same. Same faces, same portfoilio. We seem to be trying all sorts of things. Paying for continuing education, etc. Hoping to just hold on until the economy improves. Do I have any better ideas. Hell, no! Let's just tighten our belts (yes, that includes the civil service) and wait.

Bank of China (Hong Kong) will be listing in HK in July. Price expected to be around HK$7.72 to HK$11.84. Which represents price to book of 1.5 to 2.3 times. Seems to be a bit high given that HSBC is 2.3 times (roe of 11.7%). Still worth a punt, and if you believe that China will be a world economic power, then you should have this in your portfolio.

Ciao.

Has it really been 2 months since I blogged? It's be quite hectic and I just haven't found time to do anything except just to keep my head above water. The S&P downgraded HKG property companies and the market was off 200 points at one stage. Good of the S&P to do this. It just confirms my belief that the market has bottomed. The rating agencies are the last to know!!! They continued giving Enron good ratings right up until it went bankrupt.

The timing of the announcement left a bit to be desired though. They announced it in the middle of the day and caused havoc in the markets.

I am a bit peeved because the rating agencies really should rate a company on its ability to service debt and not on profits prospects (although you can argue that it is related). However, the companies they downgraded all have tons of cash and multiple earnings/interest cover. I don't get it?

Some unsophisticated investors took the debt rating downgrade as a downgrade of the stock. They were unable to distinguish between debt ratings analysts and stock analysts. Sometimes, I think they are both totally useless. The rating agencies got their start back when communications were not that good and investors did not visit the companies ... now ever company does road shows, there is more transparency, and analysts do company visits. Do we still need rating agencies?

How do I change the template? This will require some delving into blogger.com . Will let you know how when I find out.

What a difference a day makes?
In the stock market, a lot. On 19 March it was 11,222. Today it is 10,841. Over 400 points in 2 trading days! Had someone speak at lunch today about protecting our assets with trusts ... at this rate there won't be anything worth protecting!

Someone brought out an interesting fact ... if someone died when their PCCW shares were over $20, his heirs would not have enough money from selling the shares at $2 today to pay the 15% estate taxes on it. Go figure. Sometimes it doesn't pay to die.

Introduction
This is my first attempt. I have never even written a diary so we will have to see how this goes.

HKG Stock Market Update
Down 7.8 for the day to 11,222.8. It was up at the beginning of the day but closed down.