GET SET FOR A WILD RIDE ; FENGSHUI INDEX

Get set for a wild ride: Fengshui Index
By Dawn Zeng
IF YOU are an investor who likes a smooth ride with little volatility, it might pay to sit out the next 12 months.
That's because riding the Golden Tiger is anything but smooth.
Don't take our word for it. The wand bearers at CLSA Securities in Hong Kong have been crystal-ball gazing to compile their annual Fengshui Index on what lies ahead.
In short, it looks rough - and history, after all, is on their side.
They warn that the typically tumultuous Tiger years are not for the faint-hearted. Stock markets tanked in 1962 and 1998, the year of the Water Tiger and Earth Tiger respectively, then-US President Richard Nixon resigned over Watergate in 1974, and August 1998 marked the start of the Russian financial crisis.
But if you are armed with courage and conviction, opportunities abound, according to the CLSA gurus - who have nailed some trends previously but would readily admit that the tongue-in-cheek index has not always proved reliable.
Recall that some of their predictions for the Year of the Earth Ox last year were right on the money: Gold surged past US$1,000 an ounce and the market bottomed despite bearish sentiment at the start of last year.