Feng Shui 2014 oh Feng Shui 2014

Feng Shui 2014 Real estate, construction seen booming; water, shipping, banking, oil sectors strong
Business & Markets 2014
Written by Jonathan Gan and Ho Wah Foon of theedgemalaysia.com   
Thursday, 09 January 2014 13:26

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 9): Lilian Too, a famous practising feng shui master and former banker, sees real estate and construction as the two most bullish sectors for the Lunar Year of the Horse.

She also predicts that O&G, property, water, shipping and banking sectors will do well in the new lunar year, which starts on Jan 31 (Chinese New Year).

But the worst performing sectors under her feng shui reading are wood-based sectors, including timber and plantations.

These predictions of Lilian Too, one of the most influential bankers in the 1980s when she served the Hong Leong Group in Malaysia and Hong Kong, were made at CIMB’s Corporation Day yesterday.

In a note today, CIMB Research said there are many similarities between Too’s predictions. It highlighted that Too is very bullish about the stock market.

“The biggest surprise from the conference is that feng shui guru Lilian Too shares many of our views on the market and sectors.

“Her reading for 2014 is that the stock market will enjoy a bullish run and peak in the summer, while sectors that will do well coincide with our ETP (Economic Transformation Programme) sector picks.

“In addition to O&G, construction and property, the water, shipping and banking sectors will also do well. The worst performing sectors are timber and plantations,” the note said.

CIMB Research noted that its KLCI target of 2030 points in 2014 is one of the highest, if not, the highest among securities analysts.

While CIMB is bullish on construction and real estate, as well as oil and gas sectors, it is neutral on the plantation sector.

“The only sectors where the views diverge are perhaps timber, which is wood-based… We believe that timber companies will benefit from higher log production and rising plywood prices,” said CIMB.

CIMB said it also likes selective smaller cap stocks due to their attractive valuations.

The research house advises investors to stick with the ETP beneficiaries this year as they will continue to gain from positive newsflow during the year.

“Our top-3 picks are SapuraKencana for oil & gas, Gamuda for construction and Mah Sing for property. Our preferred picks for the smaller caps are Karex, Signature International and Tune Insurance. We also recommend three "wild cards" that are worth considering – Barakah, Engtex and Matrix Concepts.”  

At the Corporate Day yesterday, around 300 investors turned up for the event, according to CIMB.

Apart from Too, CIMB had six other guest speakers touching on Malaysia's sovereign rating, Petronas, the property and plantation sectors, and implementation of the goods and services tax (GST) in April 2015.

Yesterday, Moody's Christian de Guzman warned that Malaysia must not defer the implementation of GST or risk a negative rating action.