Dream of A Trader

KNM

2009-09-18T21:21:00.003+08:00

KNM(7164) is the one of top 30 mover these few weeks. i choose this stock to monitor due to it is the top volume of trade. we can look through the chart above, it price is cross over the 21-day Exponential Moving Average(EMA); Relative Strength Indicator(RSI) is stay at 58.9%; MACD is cross over and rising up; Parabolic is support the candlestick to step the higher level of price.

Fundamental of KNM Group is good. KNM is a manufacturer of Oil and Gas services and Equipment. KNM was invested in Verwater company which is related to storage tanks and terminals design, construction and maintanance. In detailed, KNM announced that its 100% subsidiary which is KNM International(KNMI) has invested and subscribed for 100 ordinary shares of RM1.00 each for a 50% equity stake in Verwater for only RM100. Verwater recently signed a contract with Lenstar Investment Ltd for the job. So, KNM will be allocated more jobs by Verwater. Recently, Global economy is on recovery track which will boost demand for Oil & Gas and fuel demand for its process equipment when new projects commence. Its closing price of 18th September 2009(Friday) was RM0.79. Its target price is RM1.00.

Hot Genting Singapore in Malaysia Market

2009-09-13T18:36:00.004+08:00

Recently, Genting Sp(G13) which listed on SGX is very popular in Asia due to G13 has announced 5 rgiht issues entitle for 1 share at subscription price of SGD 0.80 which would like to raise its capital of SGD1.63billion. So G13 intends to use approximately 60 percent of proceeds for future acquisitions or investment opportunities in casino-related sector while other 40 percent for working capital and repayment of bank borrowings.

The right issues will trade ex-right from 18th September 2009(today). The majority shareholder Genting Berhad, which owns 54 percent of G13 will subscribe to its right issues in full. It was try to redeem the confidence of investors. Historically, after ex-date of right issues, it market price will be adjusted to lower share price.

Futhermore, G13 try to push up it price over SGD 1.00 in order to make itself more attractive to investors. Genting Bhd will lend management support and enable G13 to tap into its over 30years of experience in developing, operating and marketing one of the region's largest casinos.

Resort World Sentosa (RWS) and Marina Sands will enjoy an interrupted duopolistic for at least 10 years. Marina sands is a large competitor for RWS since both resorts will be opening at round the same time. However, RWS will have the support of the Singapore government as it move toward its ambition of becoming the top tourist destination in Asia. So Singapore increasing low-cost carrier presence in the market and enchancing their infrastructure in place such as public transport system. But, some risk may bear that slower than expected recovery in global economic market, this could dampen consumer discretionary spending and result that in poor tourist arrivals in Singapore.

生气理论

2009-04-28T01:28:00.003+08:00

根據調查，百分之六十的人每星期至少會生氣一次，而最常生氣的對象通常是家人，其次是朋友和同事同學。這麼看來，你要不是生別人氣的那個人，就是被人生氣的那個人，當然，兩者都有的可能性也很高。

人非聖賢，誰能不生氣？

好吧，就算你真的對著人家發脾氣、把該罵的都罵了，到頭來自己也不見得快樂，幹嘛呢？

面对不顺心的事情，原本“生气”并不是唯一的选择，只不过如若没有人提醒的话人们就往往很难清楚地意识到而已。

我自己在遇到一些不合理的事情時，也常會脫口一句「氣死我了」，後來我發現，雖然我並沒有真的被氣死，但是也沒有因此讓脾氣降溫，而且還有愈說愈氣的傾向。

生气对健康有八大损害。

1.长色斑。生气时，血液大量涌向头部，因此血液中的氧气会减少，毒素增多。而毒素会刺激毛囊，引起毛囊周围程度不等的炎症，从而出现色斑问题。
2.脑细胞衰老加速。大量血液涌向大脑，会使脑血管的压力增加。这时血液中含有的毒素最多，氧气最少，对脑细胞不亚于一剂“毒药”。
3.胃溃疡。生气会引起交感神经兴奋，并直接作用于心脏和血管上，使胃肠中的血流量减少，蠕动减慢，食欲变差，严重时还会引起胃溃疡。
4.心肌缺氧。大量的血液冲向大脑和面部，会使供应心脏的血液减少而造成心肌缺氧。心脏为了满足身体需要，只好加倍工作，于是心跳更加不规律，也就更致命。
5.伤肝。生气时，人体会分泌一种叫“儿茶酚胺”的物质，作用于中枢神经系统，使血糖升高，脂肪酸分解加强，血液和肝细胞内的毒素相应增加。
6.引发甲亢。生气令内分泌系统紊乱，使甲状腺分泌的激素增加，久而久之会引发甲亢。
7.伤肺。情绪冲动时，呼吸就会急促，甚至出现过度换气的现象。肺泡不停扩张，没时间收缩，也就得不到应有的放松和休息，从而危害肺的健康。
8.损伤免疫系统。生气时，大脑会命令身体制造一种由胆固醇转化而来的皮质固醇。这里物质如果在体内积累过多，就会阻碍免疫细胞的运作，让身体的抵抗力下降。

“即使是在极端恶劣的环境里，人们也会拥有一种最后的自由，那就是选择自己的态度的自由。”control your anger before it controls you

每一株玫瑰都有刺；正如每一個人的性格中，都有你不能容忍的部份。愛護一朵玫瑰，並不是得努力把它的刺根除，只能學習如何不被它的刺刺傷；還有，如何不讓自己的刺刺傷心愛的人。

恋爱时，一切都是甜蜜的，不过却总有一个场景是我们经常能看到的：男人在约会时迟到了几分钟，女人生气了，头也不回地离开了约会地点，于是解释、道歉便成了男人此时的“法宝”。在经过一番甜言蜜语似的“赔罪”后，女人原谅了男人，约会得以继续下去。

其实，并不是女人有意为难对方，而是女人善于用这样的方法去经营她们的感情。心理学家荣格曾指出，男性有一些女性化的心理特点，女性也拥有男性化的心理特点。

在恋爱这个特殊的背景下，这些特点充分表现出来了。

男女在恋爱中角色不一样

北京育心园心理咨询中心的专家介绍说：恋爱时，男性通常扮演的角色是追求者，他们期待追求成功后的喜悦。所以在追求心目中的“她”时，越是渴望得到对方的爱，越是容易出现紧张不安，于是就会比任何时候都要显得温柔和体贴。此时，男性的心理特点就趋于女性化，比较懂得理解和包容对方。

而女性在恋爱中则选择有意无意地给男朋友设置一些所谓的障碍，比如约会不能迟到，必须记得她的生日和她喜欢的食品等，甚至还希望能在情人节时会有惊喜，其目的就是想知道男朋友是否能迁就自己，更多时候干脆就直接耍耍小性子考验他们。当女性拥有了男性化这一心理特点时，也就能解释为什么恋爱中的女人特别容易生气了。

少些考验，多些信任

专家认为，在恋爱的过程中，女性需要更多的安全感，所以希望男性能做到她们要求的那般完美，当对方做不到的时候，女人就选择生气来表达自己的不满。约会迟到，不代表他忽略你，可能真的是因为公司临时有个会议耽误了一些时间，或是路上遇到交通堵塞导致他没有办法准时出现在约会地点；生日时没有给你想要的鲜花或是礼物，也不代表他心里没有你，也许他有更好的安排……女人大可不必通过这些“障碍”来考验男人对你的真心，更不要动不动就生气。

男人常说，爱生气的女人是不美丽的，但不生气的女人又有几个呢？心理学家也说过女人生气是因为心理上呈现男性化特点，同时她们想通过这一过程了解对方是不是真的在乎自己。然而，一次又一次的考验，只会破坏你们之间的信任，因为在考验中会出现争吵、冷战、误解、猜疑，这样下去，再好的感情也会“毁”在自己的手上。

最后，无论是正处于热恋中的男女朋友，还是即将进入恋爱中的男人、女人，在面对感情的时候不要意气用事，千万不要因为一点点小事，就以耍脾气、搞冷战的方式来测试你们之间的感情牢固程度。尤其是恋爱中的女性，感情是建立在信任基础上的，生气看似是宣泄你对对方的不满，可背后会隐藏着你的不信任感和对感情的不确定性，一旦出现次数过多，你们的感情也随之会亮起红灯，到时候换来的可能就是一句：“我们分手吧！”

在日常生活中，我们也许就是太在意对方，太在意情感得失，我们害怕失去，而产生情绪高低起伏。仔细想想，生气真的能解决问题吗？还是只能让矛盾更尖锐，更伤害彼此的感情？不如放开心胸，看花开花落。

1. 努力倾听对方。安静地倾听对方的讲话，至少你可以发现对方的变化，无论是在思想还是性格方面。即使听到令人激怒的话语，也要尽量保持平静的举止。

2. 反省自己。要知道是什么让对方发怒。

3. 不要对对方的想法和感觉妄加判断。如果你真的不能理解对方的感受，至少你不能说“你怎么会那样想，你不应该那样想”。

4. 让争吵暂停。告诉对方，直到对方的态度或者言语变得可接受，才能继续交谈。

5. 一吵即停。如果彼此深知会吵得天昏地暗时，最好在出现苗头时，就能控制自己，等到心平静气时再谈不迟。

其实最重要的是互相交流，吵架也是一种交流的方式，但是言语的伤害一旦造成，却很难根除。

Emotional Intelligence

2009-03-28T12:52:00.005+08:00

有許多人認為：「人不應該有情緒」，所以不肯承認自己有負面的情緒，要知道，人會發脾氣、會鬧情緒，就被認為是一件理所當然的事了，壓抑情緒反而帶來更不好的結果，學著體察自己的情緒。其實，情緒升起的時候，不是你有情緒，是情緒有你；不是你控制情緒，而是情緒控制你，不會控制脾氣，只會傷害到周圍的朋友。一般人之所以會有情緒的反應和起伏，往往是受到外在環境的刺激。但有时候容易發脾氣或情緒不好，是自己卻不自覺。就像是一池水，水面本來平靜無波，可是被風一吹，它就動了；如果我們也動不動就被外境的「風」吹得起情緒，這就表示自己的修養還不夠。

当在情绪激动的时候，情绪反应十分简单，缺乏幽默感，不会开玩笑，对于不满意的事沉默不语，对很小的事也沉不住气，听不进任何人的劝说，

EQ 的重要性表現在生活的各個層面：它決定了個人主觀上認為生活是否順心，也會影響個人與他人（如家人、朋友、配偶、上司、同事、客戶）之間的關係，甚至會影響學業及工作表現。試想：一個不能處理好自己情緒的人，必定很容易受情緒所左右，表現出衝動的行為，因而破壞人際關係；如果與身邊的人不能相處融洽，不論在家庭、學校及工作環境中都存在不滿的情緒，覺得大家都對不起他、認為一切都是別人的錯，或者陷入深深的自責中，形成惡性循環，當然活得不快樂。相反地，若能敏銳地察覺自己及他人的情緒，坦誠面對自己的負面感受，同理對方的感受，不任意批評，並且將生活中的困境視為合理的挑戰，有堅定的信念去完成艱鉅的任務，對人對事做出適切的反應，那麼就容易與他人保持良好的關係，能夠得到他人的幫助，這樣一來，許多事情都能迎刃而解。以工作為例，相信很多人都曾經覺得工作是否順利圓滿，往往不是由能力決定，而是你能不能打開心扉傾聽同事或上司的不同意見，能不能將個人的好惡、利益與工作區分開來，將人際衝突的阻力化為助力，才是成敗的關鍵。

如果不控制情绪的话，可能失去朋友，失去亲人，失去上司的信任和重用，失去同事和下属的支持和拥护。严重的话，还会影响他人和自己的身心健康。心理学研究表明，脾气暴躁，经常发火，不仅增强诱发心脏病的致病因素，而且会增加患其他病的可能性。总之，不良的情绪会阻碍我们的学习、生活和工作，所以一定要控制情绪。

认清自己是一个情绪容易失控的人吗？仔细回顾自己在什么情况下情绪容易失控？只有把一次又一次让自己情绪失控的情形找出来，对症下药，才能药到病除。所以我们遇事要多思考，保持冷静，保持理智，保持头脑清醒，多考虑大局，从高处下手，照顾周详，不急不躁，事缓则圆，难得糊涂，大事化小，小事化了，忘掉过去，看向未来。最后，寻找适当的发泄渠道，安排适当的放松活动，比如运动、唱歌、聊天、松骨、按摩、桑拿、沐足、旅游、睡觉等等。

控制情绪从小事做起，从现在做起，从身边的亲人朋友做起，持之以恒，坚持到底，效果会很好的。有效地抑制生气和不友好的情绪，使自己更融于他人，最有效的方法在于提高自己的修养及得到亲人及朋友的帮助与劝慰。意识控制当愤愤不已的情绪即将爆发时，要用意识控制自己，提醒自己应当保持理性，还可进行自我暗示：“别发火，发火会伤身体。”

一、了解自己的情緒：體察自己的情緒，也就是，時時提醒自己注意：「我現在的情緒是什麼？」。當我生氣的時候，我一定會察覺到「我在生氣」嗎？我們情緒起了變化的時候，注意力會放在引起情緒反應的事情上，也就是陷入情緒當中，無法「跳出來」看到當下的情緒。經常在事後，才察覺到「我剛才很生氣」。試著在有情緒反應時，除了注意到引起情緒的事件之外，也能分些注意力去體察自己「內心的情緒狀態」。這樣說起來很玄，也很不容易，不過，只要你願意去做，你會知道「了解自己的情緒」是什麼意思。然后要妥善管理情緒：當你能夠立刻察覺自己的情緒，問問自己為什麼生氣？為什麼難過？如果是你的想法引起不快，再問問自己，有沒有其它替代想法？要了解自己的情緒，也要了解並且接納別人的情緒。接納對方的情緒，並不是要你同意他的情緒，重點是允許對方有權利產生情緒，而你可以了解他的情緒，從他的立場去體會他的感受。推己及人凡事要将心比心，就事论事，如果任何事情，你都能站在对方的角度来看问题，那么有很多时候，你会觉得没有理由迁怒于他人，自己的气自然也就消了。

二，適當表達自己的情緒。如何「適當表達」情緒，是一門藝術，需要用心的體會、揣摩，更重要的是，要確實用在生活中。负面的用语不但束缚自己，也会影响别人。比如老板对自己的员工说，“你这件事情没做好”可以换成“你觉不觉得这件事情可以再做得好一点”；如果你把“你这样表现很差劲”的话语，换成“你还有更大的进步空间”，他听了肯定会备受鼓舞，会将自己的工作做得更加完美。再举个古代的例子：有一次，张飞带兵打仗，他们因为没有计划好而打了败仗。张飞让他们撤退，士兵们情绪不高。张飞说，我们不是撤退，只是换个方向前进。大家一听，好，那就换个方向前进吧。所以，要改变说话的方式，杜绝渲染自己的痛苦和不快。你可以讲，我只是有一点需要释放，有一点需要放松，而不要"为赋新词强说愁"，就可以让自己保持良好的情绪。要學習如何適切地表達自己的感受。用陳述自己感受的方式來表達比指責對方讓人更能夠接受：對你老公說「我覺得一個人在家好孤單」比起說「你不能早一點回家嗎？」更能打動他！

第三、以合宜的方式紓解情緒。紓解情緒的方法很多，有些人會痛哭一場、有些人找三五好友訴苦一番、另些人會逛街、聽音樂、散步或逼自己做別的事情以免老想起不愉快，比較糟糕的方式是喝酒、飆車，甚至自殺。紓解情緒的目的在於給自己一個釐清想法的機會，讓自己好過一點，也讓自己更有能量去面對未來。如果紓解情緒的方式只是暫時逃避痛苦，爾後需承受更多的痛苦，這便不是一個合宜的方式。有了不舒服的感覺，要勇敢的面對，仔細想想，為什麼這麼難過、生氣？我可以怎麼做，將來才不會再重蹈覆徹？怎麼做可以降低我的不愉快？這麼做會不會帶來更大的傷害？根據這幾個角度去選擇適合自己且能有效紓解情緒的方式，你就能夠控制情緒，而不是讓情緒來控制你！

怎麼控制呢？一個是用意志力來控制，不讓狀況擴大；一個便是轉移它。譬如知道自己要發脾氣了，就趕緊將身體放鬆、頭腦放鬆，也許唱唱歌，聽聽音樂，即使大聲吼叫也可以，只要不影響、不傷害自己和別人就好。先用方法來發洩情緒、轉移情緒，接下來再來處理或解決，但千萬不要壓抑。因為長期的壓抑，能量愈聚愈強，最後可能會像火山一樣，一旦爆發就會不可收拾。就像有些有修養的人，在公開場合或在他人的面前，雖然很能控制情緒，可是回家後，一見到家裡的人就爆發了。因為他不是控制情緒，而是在壓抑情緒。也許一時間能夠壓抑住，但最終總會發洩出來。所以，在知道自己情緒不對時，要先想辦法放鬆，想辦法轉移。

1. 我们要懂得互为谦让。懂得谦让，友好地相处。
2. 而因人而异。不同类型的人对同一件事的反应可能不同。同样一句话，性格敏感的人会因此而勃然大怒，而有的却能泰然处之。
3. 有时候暂时回避是个好方法。如果矛盾双方僵持对峙，情绪正激烈之时，不妨暂时采取回避政策，待我们情绪平静后，再来解决问题。
4. 期望要适度。渴望把事情做好，是每一个人的愿望。但当你的期望值太高，非要求自己做到完美无缺时，就可能陷入担心、畏缩的情绪困境中。要你尽了最大的努力，即使达不到要求，也不应苛求自己。这样，你才能保持乐观自信的情绪。
5. 助人为乐。助人是快乐之源。当我们给别人带来欢乐时，自己的心情也会非常舒畅，从而忘却了烦恼。因此，乐于助人，不但能获得珍贵的友谊，还能让自己的心情更好。
6. 偶而屈服。俗话说：“能屈能伸大丈夫。”做大事的人为人处事都会从大处着眼，而不在小处过分计较。同伴交往也是这样，应求大同而存小异。
7. 宽容大度对人不斤斤计较，不要打击报复，当你学会宽容时，爱发脾气的毛病也就随着那些不愉快的情绪自行消失了。给人机会。多交朋友，少结怨家，心境自然会变得平静
8. 承认自我勇于承认自己爱发脾气，还可向他人求助，使自己从今以后克服这一毛病。当受到不公正待遇时，任何人心中都会怒火万丈，但是无论遇到什么事，都应该心平气和，冷静地、不抱成见地让对方明白他的错误之处，而不应该迅速地做出不合理的回击，从而剥夺了对方承认错误的机会。
　　　
人生本来有快乐的、成功的。兴奋的事情，可是一般人情绪不好时，总把注意力集中在那些失败的、带给自己挫折感的不如意的事情上。情绪控制最重要的是把注意力调整过来，关注人生中好的一面。比如，当你早晨起床后，你可以问自己，今天有什么事情是值得自己高兴的？今天有什么事值得骄傲？今天有什么事值得振奋？今天有什么事值得感恩？问完这些后，试着找到答案。再抑或是对自己说，因为我有一个理想的工作，所以我很骄傲。因为我的父母非常疼爱我，所以我很温暖。因为我今天气色不错，所以我很精神——总之要在脑海中让自己看到一些美好、成功的景象，这样便能够让自己感受到良好的情绪。

Securitization

2009-02-26T11:21:00.002+08:00

Securitization is a financial transaction in which underlying assets are pooled and repackaging of cash flow producing those assets into securities then sold to investors with the assets as their backing. Investors can purchase these securities, either through a private offering or on the open market. Nowadays, many of financing companies that raise their cash by issuing securities that are backed by specified assets with either a fixed interest rate or a floating rate. All assets can be securitized so long as they are associated with cash flow. These securitized assets have been formed using various types of collateral, including mortgages, auto loans, leases, and installment contracts on personal property. The most general securitized product is the mortgage-backed security (MBS) which is a type of asset-backed security that is secured by a collection of mortgages.

Issuer
A bankruptcy-remote special purpose vehicle (SPV) who wholly-owned by the lender and serves as conduit of cash flow. Their normally jobs are to facilitate a securitization and to issue securities to investors. Their functions are to reduce the certain risk such as bankruptcy risk and obtain lower interest rates from potential investors
Lender
An entity that underwrites and funds loans that are sold to the SPV for inclusion in the securitization. Lenders are compensated by cash for the purchase of the loan and by fees. Lenders can be banks or non-banks. Sometime, the lender might contract with mortgage brokers.
Mortgage Broker
Acts as a facilitator between a borrower and the lender. The mortgage broker receives fee income upon the loan's closing.
Servicer
The entity who responsible for collecting loan payments from borrowers and for remitting these payments to the issuer for distribution to the investors. The servicer is normally compensated with fees based on the volume of loans serviced. The servicer is generally is responsible for handling delinquent loans and foreclosures
Investors
The purchasers of the securities issued by a SPV. Investors provide funding for the loans and assume varying degrees of credit risk, based on the terms of the securities they purchase.
Rating Agency
Assigns initial ratings to the various securities issued by the issuer and update these ratings based on subsequent performance and perceived risk.
Trustee
A third party appointed to represent the investors' interests in a securitization. The trustee ensures that the securitization operates as set forth in the securitization documents, which may include determinations about the servicer's compliance with established servicing criteria.
Credit Enhancement Provider
Securitization transactions may include credit enhancement which designed to decrease the credit risk of the structure. This enhancement may include the over-collateralization, third party guarantor, and cash funding and otherwise.
Underwriter
Administers the issuance of the securities to investors. Underwriter will consult on how to structure the ABS and MBS based on perception of investor demand and help determine whether to use their sales network to offer the securities to public or to place them privately.

Securitization involves the sale of the loan by the lender to an issuer who then sells securities to investors. The investors are buying "bonds" that entitle them to a share of the cash paid by the borrowers on their mortgages. Once the lender has sold the mortgage to the issuer, the lender no longer has the power to restructure the loan for its borrower. This is because of "bankruptcy remote," meaning that if the lender goes into bankruptcy, the assets of the issuer will not be distributed to the creditors of the lender. Furthermore, it protects the investor from any "corporate" risk of the entity selling the cash flow stream and allows the securitization structure to achieve a higher credit rating than that of the lender. The responsibility of a servicer is collects the mortgage payments, distributes them to the issuer for payment to investors. The servicer is follows the terms of documents of securitization and specify how it operates. One of the securitization documents is the Pooling and Servicing Agreement (PSA) which is a contract that defines how loans will be combined in a securitization, the administration and servicing of the loans, representations and warranties, and permissible loss lessening strategies that the servicer can perform in event of loan default such as takes action to recover cash for the investors if the borrower cannot pay.

PEST analysis

2009-01-23T18:25:00.003+08:00

A PEST analysis is an analysis of the external macro-environment that affects all firms. P.E.S.T is an acronym for Political, Economic, Social, and Technological factors of the external macro-environment. PEST analysis is a simple, useful and widely-used tool that helps us to understand the "big picture" of our environment factors. Such external factors usually are beyond the firm’s control and sometimes present themselves as threats. However, changes in the external environment also create new opportunities. As such, it is a useful strategic tool for understanding market growth or decline, business position, potential and direction for operations.

Advantages of PEST analysis:

First, by making effective use of PEST Analysis, you ensure that what you are doing is aligned positively with the powerful forces of change that are affecting our world. By taking advantage of change, you are much more likely to be successful than if your activities oppose it;
Helps you avoid taking action that is doomed to failure from the outset, for reasons beyond your control; and
PEST is useful when you start operating in a new country or region. Use of PEST helps you break free of unconscious assumptions, and helps you quickly adapt to the realities of the new environment.

Political Factors
The political arena has a huge influence upon the regulation of businesses, and the spending power of consumers and other businesses.

Political stability
Risk of military invasion
Legal Framework for conduct enforcement
Intellectual property protection
Trade regulations & tariffs
Favored trading partners
Anti-trust laws
Pricing regulations
Taxation – tax rates and incentives
Wage legislation – minimum wage and overtime
Work week
Mandatory employee benefits
Industrial safety regulations
Product labeling requirements

Economic Factors
Economic factors affect the purchasing power of potential customers and the firm’s cost of capital. Marketers need to consider the state of a trading economy in the short and long-terms. This is especially true when planning for international marketing.

Type of economic system in countries of operation
Government intervention in the free market
Comparative advantage of host country
Exchange rates & stability of host country currency
Efficiency of financial markets
Infrastructure quality
Skill level of workforce
Labor costs
Business cycle stage (e.g. prosperity, recession, recovery)
Economic growth rate
Discretionary income
Unemployment rate
Inflation rate
Interest rate

Social Factors
Social factors affect customer needs and the size of potential markets.

Demographics
Class structure
Education
Culture (gender roles, etc)
Entrepreneurial spirit
Attitudes (health, environmental consciousness, etc)
Leisure interests

Technological Factors
Technology is vital for competitive advantage, and is a major driver of globalization. Technological factors can lower barriers to entry, reduce minimum efficient production levels, and influence outsourcing decisions.

Recent technological developments
Technology’s impact on product offering
Impact on value chain structure
Impact on cost structure
Rate of technological diffusion
Research and Development activity

To use this analysis, follow this three stage process:

Brainstorm the relevant factors that apply to you;
Identify the information that applies to these factors; and
Draw conclusions from this information.

The number of macro-environmental factors is virtually unlimited. In practice, the firm must prioritize and monitor those factors that influence its industry. Even so, it may be difficult to forecast future trends with an acceptable level of accuracy. In this regard, the firm may turn to scenario planning techniques to deal with high levels of uncertainty in important macro-environmental variables.

The reason of difficulties encountered by SMEs in securing bank loans

2008-12-02T23:48:00.002+08:00

Mirco-credit financing can help spur the growth of small and medium enterprise. The SMEs mirco-credit is usually defined as a business with total loans of less than RM25000.SMEs is a medium-size business which is determined on the total sales or revenue generated in a years. It plays an important role to stimulate the economic growth of country to become more competitive and attractiveness in the world economy. However, this type of enterprises often faces the problem of the insufficient supply of micro-credit to conduct their business. It is because the banks perceive mirco-credit as an activity with high risk and low return activity. Fortunately, our government had put in the efforts to calls for more loans to be available in order to support the SMEs in our country.

The reason for difficulty in securing bank loans is the banks often require a guarantor or securities. To prevent the loan becomes bad debts, banks needs guarantor or securities to settle the amount loan. However, assets of small and medium enterprise is limit and few if compare to large enterprise. If small and medium enterprise no guarantor to guarantee them, they must have enough asset become security to apply loan. In case the enterprise is initially stated business, they do not have enough assets to apply loan. Then, they dint has opportunities to expand the business. In addition, small and medium enterprise is cant issue share to public likes public company. They can’t collect their funds from issue share to public. Then, they have limitation of capital. Loan is very important to them to expand their business.

Besides that, another reason is small and medium enterprise should prepare a thorough, complete and perfect business plan. The business plan include how you plan to repay the loan if it’s granted and objective of apply the loan. The banks do so because the banks wants prevent the loan to illegal. In addition, they want confirm small and medium enterprise has capable to repay the loan. It also want make sure whether the small and medium enterprise got potential to expand their business or not. In results, if the business plan is not prefect or uninspired, small and medium enterprise will difficult to apply the loan.

On the other hands, banks might be increase the interest rate of loan in future time period. This is because banks needs prevent the risk of economics’ country going bad and cover back the lost. However, banks just can increase the interest rate when the loan agreement allowed. [Penwira Habib Malaysia Bhd v Lim Hong Tatt (1989)]. Thus, the small and medium enterprise can’t expect the time value to settle the loan and total amount of loan needs to pay when maturity date. Then, small and medium enterprise must think carefully when apply the loans.

In addition, the restriction of approve loan is more difficult compare to large company.
Banks can see large company enterprise performance and information by market share and annual report provide by them. Banks can recall the loan when large company facing liquidity or freeze problem at the moment. However, small and medium enterprise does not provide such as information in public. The banks Is hard to measure the performance and no enough information to small and enterprise. For secure, the restriction of approve loan to small and medium enterprise is tightly and strictly compare to large company.

Besides that, past performance of small and medium enterprise also become a one of difficult in securing loan. Since lack of Information Company, past performance also needs take in account to banks decides to approve the loan. If the past performance of small and medium enterprise is worst, the banks are no confidence to approve the loan to them. It is to prevent the enterprise going worse again until cant facing the repayment the loan. Banks mostly request 3 years of financial statements to allow them to compare and decide the performance of enterprise. On the contrary, if the past performance of enterprise excellence, the opportunities to approve the loan is high.

On the other hands, prospect of the future for the objective of business also is one of reason for difficulty securing bank loan. Banks will decided approve the loan whether the main business of small and medium enterprise is popular and appreciate or not. Unpopular and unappreciated business is risky to bank to approve the loan. It is because banks cant expected whether the business that they carry will become famous in future. Thus, it will become difficult for creative small and medium enterprise to apply loan conduct new business.

Unit Trust

2008-12-01T05:21:00.008+08:00

What is Unit Trust?
Unit trusts have grown in popularity in recent years. It's not hard to figure out why. Unit trusts are the small investor's answer to achieving wide investment diversification without having to come out with prohibitive sums of money. And the benefits do not end at that. But first, what is a unit trust? A unit trust fund is an investment scheme (as shown in the diagram below) that pools money from many investors who share the same financial objectives. In exchange for the money, the fund issues units to the investors who are known as unit holders. Unit holders can sell (known as redeeming) their units back to the fund, or buy (and sell) further units.
Managing the fund and the income earned
Mean time the fund is managed by a group of professional managers (known as the unit trust company) who will invest the pooled money in a portfolio of securities such as shares, bonds and money market instruments or other authorised securities to achieve the objectives of the fund. Because of the large sums collected, the fund manager is able to diversify among various investments in such range and diversity that the risks of investing are minimised. On the other hand, the total assets of the fund determine the value of the fund and the price paid by unit holders or the amount received when they redeem their units. The unit trust fund earns income from its varied investments in the form of dividends, interest income and capital gains. This income is then distributed to the unit holders in proportion to the units they hold, in the form of dividends or bonus units.

Protection for unit holder
As a unit holder, our protection within a unit trust is ensured in the way unit trusts are structured. Unit trusts are actually trusts. The protection is enshrined within the unit trust deed which spells out the respective duties, responsibilities and expectations of the three parties in the unit trust who are namely: (a) The unit holders who provide the funds for investing; (b) The unit trust company providing investment, administrative and marketing services; and (c) The trustee company which holds the assets of the trust on behalf of the unit holders. There are three sources of information that we must examine when selecting a fund. These are the fund's prospectus, the trust deed and the financial statements comprising the annual and interim reports which are available for inspection, free of charge, at the premise of the fund manager.
The Regulatory Framework
The unit trust industry is governed mainly by the SC, which was established under the Securities Commission Act 1993. The SC is empowered to require compliance with all legislations and regulations under its ambit, which are, amongst others, the Securities Industry Act 1983, the Securities Commission Act 1993 and the SC’s Guidelines. These securities laws and guidelines have been established to protect the interests of the investing public and to facilitate the orderly development of the unit trust industry.

The insider-trading scandal

2008-11-30T10:24:00.011+08:00

Martha Stewart
Full Name: Martha Helen Kostyra
Born: August 3, 1941
Birthplace: Nutley, New Jersey
Graduate of Barnard College
2004-2005: Spent five months in prison
Currently hosts the syndicated The Martha Stewart Show

Stewart was indicted in 2003 on criminal charges and faced several civil lawsuit related to her sale of the ImClone stock. According this case, she sold the stock on December 27, 2001, one day before the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) refused to review ImClone system’s cancer drug Erbitux and the stock price tumbled after FDA’s announcement.
The scandal touched some of the ImClone insiders which are:
-John Landes , ImClone’s counsel who dumped $2.5M on December 6
-Ronal Martell, vice president of marketing who sold $2.1M on December 11
-Four other company executives who cashed in shares between December 12 and December 21.

Developments in the scandal

Sam Waksal, the CEO of Imclone and a close friend of Stewart's, instructed his broker Peter Bacanovic who was also Stewart's broker to transferred $4.9M in ImClone stock to account Aliza Waksal, daughter of Sam and she also requested that Bacanovic sell $2.5M of her own ImClone stock and Sam also tried to sell the shares he had transferred to Aliza but was blocked by brokerage firm Merrill Lynch.

Sam was arrested on charges of insider trading, obstruction of justice, bank fraud and in addition to previously filed securities fraud and perjury charges. Although he pleaded innocent for nine months but he eventually plead guilty to insider trading and another six charges. He was later sentenced to more than seven years in prison and ordered to pay $3M fine. Prosecutors continue to investigate his family members who sold $30M of biotechnology company’s shares. His daughter and father also faced a criminal investigation and possible forfeiture of nearly $10M that government contended was obtained from illegal insider trading. In 2006, Sam agreed to pay $3M penalty and his father returned $2M in profits.

Stewart denied that she engaged in any improper trading. Stewart says she was flying in her private jet to Mexico for a vacation with two friends. However, she called her office to check her messages which included one from Bacanovic, with news that her ImClone stock had dropped below $60 per share. Stewart claimed she had previously issued a “stop-loss” order to sell the stock if it fell below $60 per share. She also called Sam but could not reach him. Stewart’s assistant left a message for Sam and wanted to ask him what happen in Imclone but Sam did not call her back.

However, investigator was discovered that she did not sell the stock below $60. Stewart’s explanation that she unloaded her stock because of prearranged sell order collapsed when Douglas Faneuil who was broker's assistant told Merrill Lynch lawyers that Bacanovic had pressured him to lie about stop-loss order. Although Faneuil initially backed Stewart’s story, he later told prosecutors that Bacanovic prompted him to advice Stewart that Waksal family members were dumping their stock and that she should consider doing the same. He acknowledged that Bacanovic never “explicitly” directed him to lie. Faneuil pled guilty to a misdemeanor and received a $2000 fine. Merrill Lynch fired Faneuil. Bacanovic was also fired for declining to cooperate with investigators looking into trading activity of ImClone’s shares anf served five months in prison.

The probe
In August 2002 , investigators requested Stewarts phone and e-mail record on the ImClone stock trade. Congressional investigators could not find any credible record . The committee did not call Stewart to testify- Stewart invoke her Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. After the scandal broke , Stewart and her spokespeople declined to commented . Thus many wonder if she been straight about wonder , why wouldn’t she tell it under oath ? SEC indicated that it was ready to file civil securities fraud charges against Stewart .

The charges
On June 4 2002, a federal grand jury indicted Stewart on charges of securities fraud, conspiracy, making false statement , and obstruction of justice. It alleged that she lied to federal investigators about the stock sale, attempted to cover up her activities. The indictment further accused Stewart of deleting a computer log of the telephone message. Meanwhile, Bacavonic was also indicted on charges of making false statements, making and use false document, perjur, and obstruction of justice. Bacavonic had altered his personal notes to create the impression of a prior agreement for stop loss limit. Additionally, SEC filed a lawsuits accusing both Bacovonic and Stewart of insider trading. At her trial, The indictments for securities fraud were dropped, but the other indictments were prosecuted. As a consequence, Stewart was sentenced to serve 5 months in prison and 5 months in home detention.

Martha Stewart is convicted and sentenced to prison.

In February 2004, the judge threw out the most serious of the charges against Stewart—securities fraud. A jury convicted Stewart on four remaining charges of making false statements and conspiracy to obstruct justice. She was sentenced to serve five months in prison and five months in home detention. She finished her prison time in March 2005.

How Malaysian economy, financial markets and system would be affected by the sub prime mortgage loan crisis in 2008

2008-11-29T05:01:00.002+08:00

Monetary Policy on Interest Rate versus Inflation
In Malaysia, as most divisions are doing well and there is no need to decline the interest rate at this time to stimulate the economy growth. Lower dollar caused stronger Ringgit and stronger economy give further support to the Ringgit. Furthermore, stronger currency does help in containing a little on inflation and this given us an optimal economy development contrast with others. So, we have a better interest level with controllable inflation and growing GDP. Therefore, value of Ringgit today is around 3.27 for 1 dollar, 2.87 for 1 Aussie dollar and 2.28 for 1 Singapore dollar.
The insignificant concern is if Federal Reserve is to lower down its interest rate further in the coming quarters. Bank Negara Malaysia may face the stress to lower its rate and lessen the upwarding pressures on Ringgit that may harm industry of export and the potential global funds that looking for a higher return to Malaysia. In general, local front interest rate is steady and potentially heading south. Commodities prices will still be a potential set back with upward pressure for the Fed and BNM when managing monetary policy through interest rate. That means which both Malaysia property and stock market will take advantage from stable to a potential lower interest rate if it occurred. The only concern is hot fund will become speculative and re-generate another 1993 bull run and then move away. This will not be a good thing to the economy.

Currency Strategy
For the local front, Ringgit is already undervalued when all ASEAN currencies recovered from the currency crisis at year 1997. Some other currencies are even above the pre-crisis level. We could see Ringgit to move further around 3.0 to 3.1 levels depending on our Bank Negara’s policy. In fact, Ringgit should be traded around 3.0 to 3.2 levels due to BNM interference in 2007; it has closed around 3.3 to 3.4 level against US dollar in 2007. The cause is simple that it is Malaysia’s culture to protect the local manufacturing in order for them to have enough time to change into a high value added industry or move upstream before it is getting hurt by stronger Ringgit that still in a situation to compete cost with China.
In term of currency market trend, there is further sign that falling dollar can be good for US market and strengthening Ringgit trend will invite more local and foreign buyers for Malaysia property and a steady Malaysia economy. Needless to worry that cost of materials will continue to increase in 2008 giving more potential upward trend for local property price.

Stock Market
Contagion from the US sub prime crisis is expected to be limited to the capital markets as foreign hedge funds unwind their positions in Malaysia securities. The economic impact will depend on whether the sub prime crisis in the United States cascades into the real economy and affects employment and consumption, which economists say is not happening at the moment. The unwinding of sub prime debt and its problems has been snowballing in the United States over the past few weeks. Fear finally gripped the market when American Home Mortgage Investment Corp said that it could no longer fund home loans and might liquidate assets.
On KLCI front, it will breach 1500 level in 2008. So that will be many matured emerging markets have move up a lot in 2007 like Hang Seng, STI, KOSPI, Shang Hai SE, AllORDS, many global funds may find expensive to invest in those markets and they are higher require for higher return. Thus, Malaysia sound economy and most valuation of stocks are still relatively cheaper than those mentioned market above. Fund managers may turn aggressively into KLSE and this year potentially can be another good year for KLCI. Further supports are national election is under way, 9MP is still on going, tough corporate profits, regionalized results for some blue chips, lower corporate tax, stable to lower interest rate trend, positive fiscal policies from budget 2007/08 will create strong support to the stock market.
With Dow Jones able to hold up well and may re-challenge new high before end of year and KLCI is now set to go for another target at 1600 level. Stock market will give a sturdy support for another rally in 2008 for Malaysia property market. But bear in mind, in Malaysia, nothing is fast moving up due to our protectionism culture except Call Warrant traded in KLSE. In general, bullish from stock market that will spill out over to property market as well.

Growth of GDP
The Malaysian government’s aim that growth of GDP in 2008 is 6 to 6.5 percent could be at risk if the US sub prime mortgage crisis deepens and creates a steep drop in external demand. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) showed it ids expecting Malaysian growth to slow to 5.6 percent in 2008 from the 5.8 percent estimated for 2007.
The weaker outlook for the advanced economies is likely to slow down the growth of export to going forward. It is also slower demand for Asia’s exports and electronic goods in particular and the likelihood of further international financial market turmoil are particular negative aspect concerns. In September, 2007 the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Manila-based multilateral institutions were announced that it is expecting GDP of Malaysia will grow up 5.7 percent in 2008.
However, both the IMF and ADB numbers are lower than the official growth targets because there is a downside risk to the official predict as growth of export has already been slowing down. Malaysian export growth is highly reliant on demand from the US but the outlook for the world's major economy does not look good as chances are that the sub prime turmoil is not over yet and is likely to get worse. The latest trade figures showed that Malaysian exports to the US fell 12 percent from last year, suggesting that the slowdown in the US has already filtered down. The Malaysian economy grew 5.6 percent in the first half, somewhat short of the official was aim that 6.0 percent.
The government has recently announced additional measures to enhance the domestic economy and wish to maintain growth and to guard it from any external distresses.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is set to announce the East Coast Economic Region (ECER) which is one of the three growth projects outlined in the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP), the government invest RM200 billion on development blueprint which will run through year 2010.
Malaysia has set motivated investment goals for the development projects but analysts are not impressed with the progress so far. So, the three Corridors have helped to refresh investment interest, but actual investment commitments have been slow in coming.

Export of Malaysia
Malaysia's exports grew more slowly than expected at 2007 at 2.7 percent as shipments of electrical and electronic products shrank, but growth is expected to pick up in 2008..
Exports grew up to RM605.1 billion in 2007 as increasing sales to emerging markets such as China helped offset a slowdown in shipment to the United States, the country's top trading partner. Imports grew 4.9 percent last year to RM504.6 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of RM100.53 billion. Total trade hit a record RM1.1097 trillion it was grow up 3.7 percent from 2006.
Despite volatile global oil prices and a possible U.S. economic slowdown and make Malaysia's exports are expected to grow at 2008 in line with a World Bank forecast of 3.3 percent growth in the world economy and 7.6 percent growth in global trade.
These are difficult times but also confident exports will continue to be on upward trend, hovering around the global average forecast. Although we can see a better state of economy in the U.S. and other major markets, and continued growth in emerging markets, but we do not see that why Malaysian exports cannot expand.
Export growth last year came primarily from traditional and emerging markets such as Australia, China, Indonesia, Japan and the Netherlands, helping to equalize a 14.5 percent decline in exports to the U.S. Then, exports of electrical and electronic goods contracted 5.2 percent, but are likely to bounce back this year, advanced by a projected 7.7 percent rise in global semiconductor sales and local manufacturing expansion. Otherwise, manufactured products accounted for around 75 percent of Malaysia's total exports last year. Crude oil and other mineral fuels contributed 14 percent, while palm oil and other agriculture products accounted for another 9 percent.
Economists said Malaysia's export growth in 2007, which was a quick fall from expansion of 10.3 percent in 2006, was weaker than expected due to the U.S. sub prime crisis. The slowdown in U.S. demand has affected not just Malaysia but the region. We can expect have an insignificant recovery this year, backed by strong demand for petroleum and palm oil. The strengthening of the local currency is not a concern for exporters. Malaysia's managed float of the Ringgit provided "an element of stability" to the Ringgit. The Malaysian Ringgit, which has risen 2 percent so far in 2008, was trading at 3.243 to the U.S. dollar. If the currency is functioning against exporters, they should be competent to factor in this aspect b y being more competitive.

Why Invest In Stocks?

2008-11-28T09:34:00.003+08:00

Investing means making your money work for you by getting your money to generate more money. Investing in stocks has consistently proven to be one of the most profitable forms of investment available.

The benefits include:
You can Immediate Buy or Sell so you can sell part of your investment any time.
Very low transaction cost.
The freedom to work at your own place, at your pace in your own time.
Easy monitoring, you just log in to the market from anywhere in the world.
Being able to maximise returns whilst spreading your risk.
A predictable form of investment if you know what you’re doing.
Putting you in control and freeing you of fund management fees.
Considerable tax advantages.

Things to watch out for:
The market can be a volatile place.
You must acquire knowledge of what you are doing.
You must monitor your investments.
You must learn the discipline to enter and exit the market on entry and exit signals.

For my personal advice, high risk high return, you must have the extra money as capital, this is investment not gambling. Be smart in your investment planning, analyse the market before you invest, don't invest all your money because changes in stock market can't 100percent to let you make sure that you can beat the market or forecast the stock price successfully.

Overview of The Malaysian Dual Banking System

2008-11-27T16:32:00.004+08:00

Malaysia is the unique country to implement the dual banking system which called as a full fledged Islamic banking system operating on a parallel basis with a full fledged conventional banking system. Then, not only do the two banking systems work on a parallel basis and they also operate fundamentally the similar set of banking infrastructure.

The Malaysia’s model has taken some advantages while contrasted to the banking systems of other countries. The range of Islamic banking products and services in a dual banking system tend to be wider when compared to the single Islamic system. In this dual banking system, the Islamic banks cannot afford to be self-satisfied because they operate in a competitive and dynamic situation. On the other hand, the financial institutions of single Islamic system model would not have a similar inducement to enlarge the range of the Islamic banking products and services as the possibility of domestic customers shifting away to the conventional system does not rise.

In addition, the products and services of the Islamic banking in the dual system can also be expected to have a higher level of sophistication contrasted to the Islamic banking products of the single Islamic system from perspective of wider range of services. In the international conventional banking system, innovations are necessary over the time so new products announce one stream very regularly. In a dual system of banking, such innovations will rapidly get their way to the domestic conventional banking system. The Islamic bankers operating in the dual system would have no choice but to create alike sophisticated products on an Islamic basis. This will be a continuing process, whereby the level of sophistication in the Islamic banking system will incessantly be upgraded.

Today, Malaysia has been successful in executing a dual banking system and has emerged as the first nation to have a full-fledged Islamic system operating abreast with the conventional banking system. The goal to establish a widespread Islamic banking and finance system has created a lot of effect to the non-bank Islamic financial intermediaries which started to offer Islamic financial products and services. Such institutions include the takaful companies, the savings institutions and the developmental financial institutions.