KENANGAN 1997 - KERUGIAN KONTRA DAN 'SHORT-SELLING' - OLEH NIK ZAFRI

Tujuan saya memaparkan kisah ringkas ini bertujuan untuk memberikan sedikit 'terapi minda' kepada rakan-rakan saya di luar sana yang masih belum dapat pulih sepenuhnya dari kisah 1997. Saya faham mungkin ada di kalangan sahabat-sahabat saya tidak mahu membaca malah tidak mahu lagi bergiat dalam pelaburan saham kerana trauma yang dialami. Namun, saya nasihatkan rakan-rakan supaya jangan putus asa, kita boleh sama-sama menjadi penasihat kepada pelabur-pelabur baru yang ada pada masakini. 

Senario : 

Apabila saya menjual atau membeli saham tanpa membayar harganya, ini dikenali sebagai kontra. Di sini, kita perlu menjual saham selepas tempoh "matangnya" di mana saya perlu membayar perbezaan di antara harga jualan dan belian. Ketika itu saya menggunakan broker untuk membayar perbezaan ini.

Senario : Contohnya : Saya membeli 1 lot saham "AAA" pada harga RM5.00 pada hari Selasa (T+0) Beberapa hari (T+3) kemudian pada hari Jumaat, saya menjual lot bekenaan contohnya pada harga 5.20 pada T+3, untung kasar (sebelum ditolak kos broker) adalah RM5.20 - RM5.00 *2 lot* = 1000 saham=RM400 (1 lot=1000 saham) dan saya tidak perlu menjelaskan kos belian 2 lot AAA di mana sebelum yuran broker ialah RM5 *2 lot* 1000 saham = RM10,000.00. Ketika itu saya merasakan tindakan saya adalah bijak kerana saya mempunyai dana secukupnya bagi menampung risiko kerugian namun saya tidak begitu melihat tanda-tanda dari luar negara yang menunjukkan pasaran saham akan jatuh merudum.

Apa yang berlaku kemudiannya ialah,  saya menjual 2 lot AAA pada harga RM4.80, dan menjelaskan kerugian kerana harga jualan adalah rendah dari belian. Oleh sebab itu, harga belian sebelum ditolak yuran broker ialah RM5 - 4.80 * 2 lot * 1000 saham = RM - 400. Ketika itu saya masih mempunyai dana sokongan, namun pada suatu ketika T+3, harga AAA jatuh ke RM3.50, maka saya tidak mempunyai pilihan kecuali menjualnya pada harga berkenaan.

* Senario ini adalah contoh - bayangkan kerugian yang saya alami jika dikalikan dengan membeli 20 lot (malah lebih dari itu)

Kontra; risikonya; amat tinggi terutamanya apabila pergerakan pasaran yang tidak dapat dijangka dan anda tidak cukup dana untuk membayarnya - jadi kerugian sebelum ditolak yuran broker ialah RM5 - RM3.50 *2 lot* 1000 saham = RM3000.00 dan ini boleh menyebabkan anda berada dalam keadaan kritikal apabila tidak dapat membayarnya.

Juga amat penting kita melihat apa yang berlaku di luar negara, contohnya; walaupun sudah terdapat internet ketika itu - namun penggunaannya agak terhad sedikit berbanding masakini; saya telah mendengar kisah di internet, rakan-rakan pelabur memaklumkan sedang berlaku trend "jualan pendek" (Short Selling) secara besar-besaran hasil permainan spekulator bagi pelabur mendapat keuntungan dari harga yang sedang jatuh bagi saham yang harganya berada pada paras yang luarbiasa tingginya. Ketika itu 'saham AA' ditinggikan nilainya (overvalue) pada (contohnya) 25 pound (yang pastinya akan jatuh harganya) - kemudian ianya dijual pada harga 25 pound walaupun pelabur tidak memiliki sebaran unit saham AA. Apabila saham AA jatuh ke harga 20 pound, pelabur telah membeli stok berkenaan bagi menyelesaikan dagagannya dan mendapat keuntungan 5 pound sesaham. Bezanya apabila harga saham AA melambung ke 30 pound, pelabur telah kerugian 5 pound sesaham bagi membeli saham AA untuk menyelesaikan tanggungjawab dagangannya.

Inilah yang dilakukan oleh seorang spekulator matawang (dan pernah dilakukannya di sebuah Bank terkenal di UK sehingga bank berkenaan hampir muflis) yang kemudiannya spekulator berkenaan tidak mengaku bahawa dialah yang bertanggungjawab.

Pelajarannya di sini ialah, kita mesti faham bahawa nilai matawang dunia masih mempunyai kaitan secara asimetri dengan pelaburan saham.

Negara kita bernasib baik kerana Bursa Malaysia (ketika itu BSKL) dengan panduan dari YAB PM ketika itu, Tun Dr. Mahathir telah mengharamkan "Regulated Short Selling" dan Pinjaman Sekuriti sehari selepas hari jadi saya iaitu 5 September, 1997. Juga apabila USD diikat dengan RM pada harga RM3.80 = USD 1 Dollar (pegging) Tindakan bijak ini telah berjaya menyelamatkan ekonomi negara.

Namun, kerugian kontra saya ketika itu terlalu besar menyebabkan habis semua aset saya terpaksa saya jual. Ramai juga pelabur-pelabur (kebanyakannya rakan-rakan saya) yang menjadi hampir 'mereng' disebabkan situasi ini. Sehingga kini, saya masih belum dapat pulih sepenuhnya walaupun keadaan kewangan saya semakin stabil. 

(Setelah negara kita kembali stabil, sekitar tahun 2006, Bursa Malaysia Security Berhad telah memperkenalkan kembali RSS dengan pemantauan yang amat jitu terhadap sebarang "jualan pendek" yang dilakukan)

Apa yang saya cuba paparkan di sini ialah :

a) Apabila kita melabur dalam pasaran saham; walaupun jualan kontra dan jualan pendek luarbiasa masih dalam kawalan; kita harus mempunyai dana yang mencukupi dan dirancang dengan teliti. Dana ini bukan sahaja untuk menampung sebarang kerugian yang tidak dijangka tetapi juga dana-dana untuk simpanan peribadi, keluarga, dll.

b) Kita juga perlu melabur dalam instumen-instrumen lain seperti 'unit trust' dsb. - dapatkanlah nasihat pakar.

c) Kita mestilah mempunyai pengetahuan yang mencukupi tentang pelaburan, jangan letakkan tanggungjawab hanya ke atas broker semata-mata - juga berhati-hati dalam memilih broker.

d) Kita mestilah peka kepada keadaan sekeliling kita termasuk pergerakan saham dunia tetapi kita mesti tahu membezakan antara khabar angin dan mengenali siapakah spekulator.

e) Jangan cepat terpengaruh dengan cara rakan-rakan melabur walaupun kita melihat rakan-rakan kita itu ada rumah besar, kereta besar, perabut mahal, gayahidup mewah dsb. Kemungkinan cara rakan-rakan kita melabur itu menggunakan cara-cara yang berlawanan dengan undang-undang termasuk adanya unsur-unsur skim cepat kaya yang berlindung di belakang "FOREX", "Saham syarikat besar" dsb.

f) Negara kita masih perlu berhati-hati; walaupun perundangan kita agak ketat; supaya mengawal 'liberasi' terhadap syarikat kewangan/pelaburan asing di Malaysia, liberasi pembelian aset di Malaysia, taraf perintis perlu dilihat kembali sesuai dengan keadaan semasa, pergerakan matawang dunia, imbangan impot dan ekspot dll.

Apa yang saya lihat hari ini, kita perlu bersedia dengan kemungkinan menangkis 'serangan cara lain dan halus' ke atas ekonomi negara. Cabaran yang bakal kita hadapi sangat berbeza dengan cabaran yang saya hadapi pada tahun 1997.

Nik Zafri says :

I like the following article...very honest and very transparent analysis...

Although the article may be the thing of the past (so it seems) but I wish all bankers, investors, newly listed companies, speculators and analysts, economists etc. etc. to read the following article...

Be alert for some strong words but back up with solid facts.

We may take certain reminders so that we shouldn't be over excited of the current market performance but in fact, start working harder to continually improve them (stop sitting in the comfortable zone (not yet)

Also my reminder to all, stop playing the old record by saying that the high quantity of listing/IPOs indicates that the economy is going to be fine...it's the quality that we're talking here NOT quantity.

I think 'designation' of certain stocks by authorities should come in handy - perhaps the right time....but designating stocks should be packaged with clear regulations

Recession-struck Asia to face IPO shortage in 2009

Depressed equity prices, a spreading global recession and increasing risk-aversion among investors are likely to kill the motivation for Asia Pacific companies to be audacious enough to launch IPOs in 2009. The IPO pipeline, which had dried towards the end of 2008, will probably completely shut in the first half of 2009 and the most optimistic are now only hoping that stability will return to stock prices and that a few listings will follow in the second half of the year.

There have been several jumbo IPOs in the Asia Pacific over the past few years through to the first half of 2008. The drivers of this supply were Indian and Chinese companies taking advantage of continued economic growth and investor enthusiasm for exposure in the rising fortunes of the developing world.

This gung-ho mentality was sadly short-lived as these companies’ post-listing performances were disastrous, inflation touched new highs with the advent of recession and the financial sector collapsed under the weight of sub-prime problems.

The pain was particularly felt in the second half of 2008 and IPOs were postponed or completely culled as stock prices and indices plummeted and the probability of raising new money through issuing shares at reasonable valuations completely bit the dust.

A continuation of this surrender to the gloom in global markets is likely to ensure that companies keen on deleveraging will focus on raising equity via secondary placements or private stake sales rather than venture out with IPOs, said bankers.

The outlook for IPOs at least for the first half of 2009 is bleak,” said Simon Cox, head of syndicate at UBS Australia. “Most investors who have cash see enough opportunities in secondary markets every day and are not willing to be tempted to take risk in unknown companies by participating in an IPO unless they are priced very attractively. As a result, companies hardly have any motive to sell into this kind of environment which will kill supply in 2009.”

Signs of a prolonged slowdown in IPO activity are already evident. The Chinese IPO market, the region’s busiest for several years, had a slow start in 2009. The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has still kept the domestic A-share market shut and only two tiny companies have listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange – the HK$250m (US$32.2m) IPO of mainland oil, petroleum and petrochemical trader Strong Petrochemical and the HK$63m float of China Singyes Solar Technologies.

There is one deal, though, that holds the hopes of all the companies looking to raise new equity. Chinese gold miner Real Gold Mining is braving the market with a US$150m deal and, though the defensive nature of gold could spur some demand, not many are willing to bet on the deal’s success.

Even if it is a success, bankers expect the Chinese IPO market to remain quiet in the first half and to show signs of recovery at best in the second half because of uncertainty about the direction of the global economy. “By that time (mid-year), people should be able to get a more solid view on the global economy and the mere hope of recovery could push up the stock markets and invigorate the IPO market,” said a banker.

When that happens, the infrastructure sector and companies in the retail business segment could be favoured as likely anti-recessionary candidates. “Investors remain picky and they would be only willing to put their money in India or China’s infrastructure and retail which are still considered growth sectors given possibilities demands of their huge populations will continue,” said another banker.

The Chinese government is set to invest Rmb4trn (US$584.4bn) in the country’s infrastructure sector in the next few years and is determined to maintain an 8% GDP growth by supporting domestic demand. India has similar plans to augment its infrastructure and support GDP growth.

The deals that may hit the market, however, would be modestly sized and the super jumbos are likely to be few and far between.

The only known candidate for a jumbo IPO is Agricultural Bank of China, which has plans for a US$20bn–$30bn A/H IPO in 2010. In October last year, Agricultural Bank of China received a US$19bn cash injection from the Chinese government to remove bad debts from its balance sheet and strengthen its capital base before going public. The bank transformed itself into a shareholding company in mid-January and is said to be looking at a Hong Kong and Shanghai IPO.

The Indian market is expected to remain somnolent during the first half as India gears up for its 2009 general elections. The elections are expected in May 2009. Prior to that, the Indian government is unlikely to push forward with any of its privatisations.

What little activity there is now is focused on CB buybacks with Reliance Communications and Jubilant Organosys among those quietly buying back CBs.

“In the Indian context, the market is bound to be turbulent pre-elections. It’s going to be difficult to do any deals. Post elections around June or July, hopefully, the markets will stabilise a bit and we could start seeing companies desperate to raise cash tapping the market in the fourth quarter,” said one Indian ECM banker.

And that is likely to be the trend in the rest of the region. Within South-East Asia, ECM activity will be driven primarily by recapitalisations, particularly within the FIG and real estate sectors, largely through rights issues. South-East Asian issuers tend to be family or major shareholder dominated, and rights issues backed by promoters will continue to be the prevailing trend.

“We are waiting for more rights issues out of Singapore. People are looking at issuers like CapitaLand, CapitaCommercial Trust and CapitaMall Trust to tap the market and we expect more fundraising within the REIT space. Our visibility for IPOs in SEA is minimal, so I definitely think it will be secondary fund raising and recapitalisations,” said another banker.

Although the past few months have been desolate for ECM bankers, there could be a pick-up in equity issuance towards the second half of 2009 as issuers find themselves faced with no funding alternatives.

“The IPO market is dead…The rescue rights or rescue placements in Europe will probably follow through to Asia, but Asian issuers have to swallow their pride first and take the decision to issue equity. If debt markets remain closed, they will have no choice, at some point the penny will drop,” said one Hong Kong-based Southeast Asian banker.

In Korea, the healthy IPO pipeline has imploded with first life insurers and then construction firms falling off the map. A market plunge, where the Kospi drifted below 1,000 for the first time in three years, and a subsequent liquidity squeeze has set a bleak tone for 2009 and bankers are struggling to find candidates to come to the market.

If markets were to improve, bankers think it will be the life insurers that will return first with Tongyang Life Insurance regarded as the most likely candidate. Tongyang Life came close to listing last summer but was forced to pull the deal at the last moment and has since renewed its listing filing twice with the latest deadline extended to August.

Bankers are not confident that Tongyang Life can meet that timetable but they suggested that if the deal could get done this year then other life insurers like Kumho Life and Mirae Asset Life would follow.

Also on bankers’ radars are a string of deals from Hyundai-related companies with Hyundai Motor rumoured to be considering spinning off Hyundai Card and Hyundai Capital while Hyundai Group considers a listing of Hyundai Logistics and Hyundai Home Shopping.

Bankers said that although the Hyundai deals inflated their pipeline, the execution of such deals would depend on whether the Hyundai Group was willing to use its cash piles to support the businesses and avoid a listing.

“The problem with a lot of the listing candidates is that they are backed by Korea’s industry giants and conglomerates. There is no real urgency to get these firms to the market,” one banker noted.

That argument can probably be best applied to the listing plans of Korea’s construction firms, including Posco Engineering and Construction and Lotte Engineering and Construction and Hyundai Engineering and Construction, which were all expected to list in 2008/2009 but have recently reversed those plans. Bankers blamed the cancellation of their listing plans on a strategic decision to lean more heavily on their chaebol relationships than the public markets.

And in Australia it will be difficult to see any IPOs being done in 2009, especially after the few that got done in 2008 were disastrous for investors. BrisConnections which did a huge IPO in 2008 saw its partially paid A$1 shares falling to a record low of A$0.001 post-listing. IvanHoe Mines also did one that was the year’s second largest IPO but are trading way below their issue price.

Against that background, reviving investor confidence for IPOs will be difficult.

“There could be opportunities of IPOs by diversified companies demerging to realise value in specific units or even venture capital/private equity selling off stakes but those deals in this depressed environment will have to be priced relatively cheap. . .we are not recommending our clients to go ahead and do IPOs in this environment,” said one banker.

Shankar Ramakrishnan, Fiona Lau, Denise Wee, Govinda Finn

MALAYSIA : MARKET GOING UP - ECONOMICAL RECESSION GOING DOWN - MARCH TO APRIL - SOMETHING GOOD IS HAPPENING.


1) Mini Budget - 2nd Stimulus - RM60 billion
2) ASEAN Finance Ministers Meeting - RM308 Billion common fund

Hmmm...Looks like I was right...It's gonna be March to April, 2008..for Malaysia.

Market gonna go up this month!!

Investors - Alert!!
Employers - restructure your retrenchment or layoff plans NOW!!
Employees - work harder than ever before - quit worrying!!
Banks and Financial Institutions - approve loans now - give a good BLR!!
Food Price - should be stable but the Government has to do enforcement!!

There's more...

So, let's see what the 'so-called' speculators, economists, analysts have to say this time...more excuses?

NIK ZAFRI'S (HUMBLE) ASIA/SEA ECONOMICAL FORECAST 2009

Many have forecasted that SEA will be the first to rebound from the current economic crisis by September, 2009.

On the other hand, what saddens me most is that some even forecasted that Asian economy will fall badly in 2009 - such a pathetic statement meant to discourage us.
In the past, we have been known for the reputation of outperforming the US and Europe due to the right planning and eventually become very immune to any credit crunch from the West.

Some countries are not even depending on IMF or World Bank in 1997-1998-remember? Even China has been too much underestimated (not that I disagree but too much 'smart' speculations..come on) by these 'so-called' economic forecasters.

I have always been known as a 'reverse psychological' person. I don't believe in 'too obvious bad news' being reported meant to lure the small investors away but giving great monetary advantages to speculators.

Based on these 'unfounded fears', I feel strongly that the Asian will be one of the key players in the world economy commencing from 2009.

But of course, I have a different theory (especially for Malaysia) - I think it's earlier than that...say April, 2009?

But, I share the agreement that it is likely going to be Singapore then probably followed by Malaysia. There have been a trend of banking and financial institutions in these two neighbouring countries offering new packages to GLCs and MNCs. These efforts would probably contribute to economy recovery in 2009. There has also been a higher demand for exports from Malaysia and Singapore based on the increased spending in the Euro and US.

The banking sectors in Japan are planning to buy securities, stocks and bonds (corporate) etc - and if these plan works, it will help stabilise their financial market. The Government has announce Japan's biggest ever annual budget Y12,000bn.

China however would still have to be put under alert - to grow or not to grow. Since China are trading with other SEA countries, their ability to export surplus stocks financed on credit should be monitored. New policies to boost consumption need to be drawn up to counter this possibility. I do know that China works very-very hard lately not to be bound to 'intelligent economic comments' e.g. decoupling - and I have every confident that they will succeed.

In Indonesia, the President announce the budget of USD200 billion ++ and a 6.2% growth is expected. However, they are not too sure about the outcome of issuance of Government bonds and probably there will be a budget deficit of nearly 2% GDP. Mainly taxes will play a role for the main revenue followed by non-tax sectors. There will also be about 102 trillion rupiah for fuel subsidy.

The only biggest dillema in Indonesia is corruption - if this is not being minimized, I do not think that they can reach the target that they are hoping for. While for the good part that Indonesia has done right is their achievement of regaining self-sufficiency in rice where the production has surpassed the country's rice consumption. This has made them better in terms of food situation and probably would take them out of the current global food crisis.

For Korea, they are not too ambitious; which I find a good thing to do - be cautious. While everyone is hoping and praying for a 2009 turnaround, Korea predicted a 3% growth and the focus is mainly creating new job opportunity. They have also cut taxes here and there.

Korean consumer price is estimated to stabilize to less than 4% and there may also be decreasing service deficitit and rising goods surplus - thus making 2009 account surplus to exceed USD10 billion. I personally think that Korea should now put an effort to minimize their dependency on IMF as what they have done before in 1997.

I will keep you all updated.

Just got an e-mail (Judging by the style of query, I think the person is either 'economist' or could well be 'an investor') asking me 'what is 'asymmetry'?

Click Here for the definition on the web especially :

"Unequal distribution about one or more axes"

"a branching pattern or shape that lacks a line of symmetry on either side of a median plane"

"Irregular, uneven; without symmetry; having no center or axis where something can be divided evenly"

and on the question how asymmetrical factors relate to the stock market or in the context what we're talking now...KLCI...Click Here for a sample research....(and a very good one too)

Then I think having read these, the forumer will agree on the use of the word 'asymmetry'...

And on the final question of how to become a good 'forecaster' (like Ariffin), in theory, you should first determine 'standard deviation' (e.g. 150-200) and 'correlation efficient' (0.90++) with a typical disclaimer that the price may fall within +/- 2 or 3 times the standard deviation. Alas, this is only a theory - I'm still biased to 'empirical factors' (experience) and 'justification of figures' + 'hunch/intuition' (of course with these combined strengths, you can almost determine the deviation and correlation + tolerance)

But I sincerely wish you would talk openly in this forum as we need your inputs as well. Don't just 'peep-in' and become 'observers'.
------------------------
The Star Global Malaysians Forum - Posted : 03 January 2007 at 12:21pm

arifin34 wrote:

Oops.... sorry again. I'm apologising cos I don't want to offend anyone, esp. to you all, my dear friends. Oklah, I'm just an ordinary 'economic chartist' (Fred Tam prefers me to stake claim as a 'chartist' or 'technical analyst' - that's coming directly from him) who happens to be trained in develoment economics.... so I think I understand quite a bit on what the other forumers are talking about in this tread (most of you are really farsighted - that augurs well for this thread hey Brigitte aren't the GMN people up there thinking of awarding some kind of Awards as an added incentive?!). I said 'quite a bit' cos nobody actually knows what's going to happen in the real world. Economists are good (very good) at making simplifying assumptions in their analyses. No two economists think alike, I guess... that's why some people even make jokes about the economics profession - a dismal science they say! Why, even the famous London School of Economics placed 'Economics' under the Social Sciences. And mind you, that was George Soros' alma matter! The other irony is that not all economists are exposed to the capital markets (bourses included) even though (to me) "the stock market is the panaceae of capitalist economics"! Most economists I knew were at lost when discussing about the stock market - they knew about the theoretical objectives of having one but not of how it works, and more importantly how one can read and figure out the direction of the trends. That's FORECASTING... and I have learned it not at the universities but purely thru SHELF STUDY. I hope you people realise what I'm trying to say. You see, the good point is: You don't have to be an economist to be a stock market expert but having some economics background really helps - even though sometimes the two don't jive. And last but not least, brush up your knowledge in ICT (e.g. master the tools in the softwares) ..... and become more of a 'pakar ekonomi' & 'pakar IT' rolled up into one, as in the lyrics of 'Keranamu Malaysia'. Then you'll be unbeatable.... and with a bit of luck you can even Beat the Markets! Bye, c u next year! From an 'economic chartist' (or ist it a 'charting economist'?).

I like to agree to Fred Tam. I share the thinking that an economic chartist is also a technical analyst (not 'or' but 'and') - you're just being humble..that's all.

Lemme have the honour of 'analysing' you Bro Ariffin, I haven't done this in a long time - so you must excuse my rusty knowledge

Technical Analysis

Although in your posts, there are still conventional patterns of taking into account past investment returns/prices and relating price vs current value of expected cash flow from investment, I've also noticed some strong elements of quantitative investment analysis in almost ALL your posts which relates further to other variables (e.g. account ratio? - overpriced stocks or stocks with higher ratios of market price to equity book value may generate lower risk-adjusted returns) and there have been attempts using chaos, fractal, & neural. (am not sure about AI)

Charting

Then I'm assuming, you start plotting past prices vs time using charts to detect downward/upward trend which you have always 'predicted' to continue (trend persistence).

You're not too fast cos' it's dangerous for investors but you 'play along' with the flow of 'educating cum alerting' so that people like me can understand and absorb what you're talking about.

To all forumers, charting is not simply hypotheses but it requires a gread deal of experience cos' investors are getting more knowledgeable everyday. It's not simply depending on softwares or system that proclaimed can do everything for you.

Charting 'the bro Ariffin way' (or Fred Tam's way) can also ascertain the trend limit based on peaks/troughs connections and resistance/support levels, osciillators/schochastics - price positioning measurement vs low/high price/momentum and of course empirical factors - using your intuition to expect some 'drastic/erratic' volatilities and investor's psychology.

- that's where we (and/or 'investors') know when to buy or to sell or simply put as 'bear/bull' (also very useful to 'futures' as well)

Additionally - what johndoe said in his views on KLCI 07 is also very accurate - "The stock market is just like wheat harvesting. After a great harvest, the farm must be burned down into ashes creating a natural fertilizer for the next planting/harvest"

whereby I self-termed as the fiscal first quarterly effect - usually after December, there'll be a year-end liquidity rise & tax loss trading reduction - so you should be expecting good times for January, February (but probably not end March) unless what have been promised are being fulfilled -> implementation/performance/ transparency <- the real stuff that I like to see (This para is also self-explanatory of why in some posts, I'm a bit reserved in the KLCI future predictions - but this 'reservation' doesn't imply that I'm pessimistic)

Thus, the abovementioned JohnDoe's views should be intergrated with ariffin's charting/analysis - then investors should be safe!

On my side ; on the other hand; have always been 'picked up here & there' (multiple styles) of looking into the trend + asymetrical/psychological effects (spectral) on stock values/economy - triggered by political party assembly, elections or equivalent (depending on the chosen candidates - what they talk about/promise, economy gameplan, policies etc.), Yes...corporate good governance, delivery systems, book value, blah-blah-blah as well.

Other psychological factors may also relate to 'force majeur elements' that I've mentioned in one of my recent posts, such as war, environmental issues, natural disasters etc. Don't forget big events such as games & competitions (spurious correlation) such as World Cup, Olympic Games etc.

Other variables - currency movement (depreciate/appreciate?) vs inflation vs growth, inequilibrium in trade balances etc. Investors must also have knowledge on the industries/products/operations/core-business processes that they have interest in.

To be on safer side, Ariffin + John + Nik's modus operandi - you'll be a super knowledgeable investor..hehehehe.