Tension, disaster, turbulence - welcome to the Year of the Rat

HONG KONG (AFP) - The Year of the Rat threatens to see a build-up of international tensions, natural and air disasters, and a more turbulent stock market, soothsayers and analysts say.

The rodent is also seen as a "flower of romance" which means the year will stimulate romance, but also sex scandals.

Lee said there would be a big change in Hillary Clinton's health and career but that doesn't necessarily mean she will hold political power.

In contrast, Clinton's Democratic rival, Barack Obama, "has an in-born talent for leadership and is expected to be in an extraordinary political position in the next 10 years."

"There's a big chance that he will win November's presidential election in the United States," Lee predicted.

The Year of the Rat threatens to see a build-up of international tensions, natural and air disasters, and a more turbulent stock market, soothsayers and analysts say.

As the Year of the Pig ends tonight, followers of Chinese superstition will be scurrying to consult fortune-tellers, astrologers and feng shui geomancers to guide their year ahead.

Chinese fortunes are based on a belief that events are dictated by the different balances in the elements that make up the earth — gold, wood, water, fire and earth.

Feng shui master Raymond Lo says this year will see the earth element sitting atop water, suggesting an outward solidity built on sliding foundations.

“The earth on top is Yang earth which symbolises a mountain, and mountain gives a sense of stability and firmness. But such floating earth in the ocean is weak in foundation and the stability appears to be fragile,” Lo said.

“This elemental relationship will bring a year which apparently is more stable but there are a lot of underlying tensions and confrontations.”

Lo added that the Chinese calendar follows a 60-year cycle, so 2008 will be similar historically to 1948, when Israel was established and the blockade of Berlin started, both events part of the build-up to long-standing conflict.

The lunar calendar is based on the cycles of the moon and associates each of the 12 years forming a partial cycle with an animal. Fortune-tellers base their predictions on the relationship between the zodiac animals and the characteristics of each.

The Rat is the first of the 12 animal signs, so marks new beginnings, which Lo said will be reflected in changes of leadership in the United States, Russia and Taiwan.

It is followed by ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.

The rodent is also seen as a “flower of romance” which means the year will stimulate romance, but also sex scandals.

More worryingly, it provokes a clash between water and fire which could mean heavy flooding or a tsunami, Lo added.

“The most famous water disasters in history, such as the south Asian tsunami in 2004 and the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, both incidents happened on a date with prominent appearance of the Rat,” Lo said.

He also said that the previous Year of the Rat, 1996, witnessed more than 20 plane crashes including the Trans World Airlines Boeing aircraft which exploded over the Atlantic, killing 230 people.

Lee Sing-tong, a third-generation feng shui master, said China may suffer a water shortage in the next 12 months.

But after the property bubbles in the US and China’s tightening monetary measures, Lee believes the US and China property markets will enter another chapter and will see stable development for the property market and economy.

Although the subprime crisis has caused concerns in the global economy, unexpectedly the property market will stabilise in 2008.

He predicts a better economy for China after the 2008 Olympics.

“2009 will be its most prosperous year in history,” he added.

Lee said there would be a big change in Hillary Clinton’s health and career but that doesn’t necessarily mean she will hold political power.

In contrast, Clinton’s Democratic rival, Barack Obama, “has an in-born talent for leadership and is expected to be in an extraordinary political position in the next 10 years.”

“There’s a big chance that he will win November’s presidential election in the United States,” Lee predicted.

Kenny Lau, head of the small-cap sector at Credit Suisse, said the last three Rat years had all seen very strong stock market growth in Hong Kong. It grew 232 percent in 1972, 30 percent in 1984 and 18 percent in 1996.

But he said high inflation — he predicted 5.1 percent in Hong Kong and 6.5 percent in the Chinese mainland — would provide a threat to economic growth and turbulent times were ahead.

He said investors should target their lai see — the cash Chinese people give to relatives and colleagues during the festival — at small stocks that have not yet gained the full benefit of the booming Hong Kong and mainland markets.

His colleague Vincent Chan, head of China research, said the markets will not repeat the record returns of the past few years.

“It is likely that the volatility of the market in 2008 will be comparable to that of 2007, but the chance of significant absolute returns is rather remote,” he said.

More on the Year of the Rat here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1965728/posts

And now, this:

Chinese Astrologers Offer Year Of The Rat Stock Tips
February 6, 2008

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Forget about graphs, charts and economic forecasts. Wary investors in Asia are turning to feng shui masters to tell them which way the markets will head in the Chinese Year of the Rat.

Perhaps not surprisingly for investors already burnt by recent stock market slides, feng shui experts are predicting a gloomy year for shares, not good news for those hoping for a rebound in global markets hit by worries over the U.S. economy.

“The rat will become aggressive at the tail end of the year and its underlying water element will cool the stock market,” said Vincent Koh, a feng shui master at Singapore Feng Shui Centre.

Feng shui is popular across East Asia, where it is traditionally practiced by ethnic Chinese. It relies on movements of the cosmos as well as placement of furniture and arranging space to generate a “flow of wealth.”

Believers say it can be used to improve wealth, health and personal relationships.

In Hong Kong and Singapore, it’s taken so seriously that corporations consult feng shui experts about everything from business strategy to interior design. Disneyland changed the angle of the main entrance of its Hong Kong theme park after consulting a feng shui expert.

So great is the interest in feng shui, that CLSA, a regional brokerage house, issued a feng shui client note which predicted the stock market would rise from May to August and the U.S. dollar would remain weak.

“Be mindful of your speculations, especially in the third quarter,” said the note, which CLSA described as “topical” rather than a formal investment advisory.

Raymond Lo, a feng shui master in Hong Kong who does readings for corporations, expects industries linked to earth and metal signs to flourish during the Year of the Rat.

“The rat is a symbol of money to the earth industry ... Strong water element in the year indicates productivity and strong activity in the metal industries,” said Lo, who suggested investors put their money into property, mining and gold.

He predicts stock markets will be soft this year as the elements of earth and water, which he says are strong in the Year of the Rat, weaken the fire element that influences shares.

“The water element affects the fire of the markets. I can foresee a lot of correction in the stock market,” said Koh.

With stocks markets from Japan to New York cooling since the start of the year on concerns of a global economic slowdown, skeptics may argue that you don’t need to be a feng shui master to make such predictions.

Yet Malaysian feng shui master Yap Boh Chu is optimistic with predictions that Southeast Asian markets will be stable after a tumultuous start.

“The whole concept we have for the year is the image of a seed sprouting from the ground — the beginning is hard,” he said.

RITES AND RITUALS

Lim, a dealer at a Singapore brokerage house, has his fortune read annually at the start of the Chinese New Year and he adorns his office with bull figurines in the hope of a bullish market.

He is a big believer in Ba Zi or “four pillars of destiny,” Chinese fortune telling that uses the date and time of birth to determine your life path.

However, despite his superstitious beliefs in bulls, Lim’s investments have taken a hit as Singapore’s benchmark Straits Times Index has fallen 15 percent since the start of the year.

“I can’t say that it works or it doesn’t work — when the market is down, there’s not much you can do to not lose money,” Lim said.

Terence Tea, chief executive of copper recycling firm Advance SCT, gets feng shui masters to vet his firm’s blueprints before construction begins on new offices, factories and other facilities.

But despite his devotion to the art, he admits that feng shui is not entirely responsible for his wealth and success.

“I think feng shui has helped my business, but being hardworking is fundamental,” Tea said.

Many may be skeptical that feng shui or other fortune telling can bring in riches. And even the faithful in the financial community realize its limitations.

“Unfortunately we have no predictions on who will win Euro 2008 or who will be the next U.S. president,” CLSA said in its feng shui report.

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