'Bumpy time' ahead for investors

The start of the year will be a difficult one and things are unlikely to improve until the second half. July is likely to be a great month for the markets, with the first significant uptick of the year.

CLSA makes it very clear whenever it publishes its annual Feng Shui Index that it takes the whole thing with a grain of salt.

Last year, however, its feng shui predictions ended up following the movements of the Hang Seng Index with stunning closeness - except for a drop in November 2010 which the index failed to forecast.

The first month of the year from Feb 4 to Mar 5 will be difficult. The month will be marked by the wood tiger and scare away the rabbit.

March will be better - when the wood rabbit makes an appearance - but there will be a confluence of good and bad, and that complicates things.

It is not until April - the Chinese calendar month goes from April 5 to May 5 - that things turn definitely positive with the earth dragon providing some magic for those who can take advantage of it.

Chow says the fire snake in May poses a significant danger; there is typically a fall that follows the snake. June 6 to July 5, a fire horse month will be bumpy with a bunch of difficult dates in the offing.

But then comes July, and the rabbit will jump up and up and up. The earth sheep month brings some good fortune with it. (Interestingly, Yeo differs here. His advice is to sell stocks before July 6.)

August, the metal monkey month, will be good to great, but the bumpiness that characterizes the year will return in the metal rooster September. Earth dog October will be a great month.

By November, things economic and financial will have a good head of steam and the water pig will help them along. But then come December's water rat and another bumpy ride for the second-to-last-month of the year.

But fear not, the earth cow from Jan 6 to Feb 3, 2012 will bring the year of the rabbit to a successful close.

Both masters say there will be some kind of information technology debacle, a breakdown of the Internet. CLSA takes it a step further, predicting a flattening of the economy in the Philippines after problems at Western Union, a major source of funds from the country's famous domestic helpers employed abroad.

These economic predictions go hand in hand with other, more personal ones.

The Year of the Rabbit has different implications for those under different zodiacs. According to

Yeo, however, most people are likely to have a good and lucky time ahead.

Past Years of the Rabbit

Generally speaking, the past Years of the Rabbit - 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987 and 1999 - have not always been positive.

Although markets have generally gained, there have been shocks along the way.

In 1963, a volcano erupted in Indonesia, killing 1,900 and a month later the country appointed its first president. That same year, the Federation of Malaysia was set up.

In 1975, a dam collapsed in Henan province, killing more than 26,000 people and there was a significant but short-lived drop in the Hang Seng Index that gave pause to a five-year bull run.

Then there was October 1987 and a one-day 22.6 percent drop in the Hong Kong market that triggered a global drop; luckily Prozac went up for sale that December.

The year 1999 saw a total solar eclipse and the agreement for China to join the World Trade Organization. The global population hit the 6-billion mark while the Y2K bug proved to be a little more than fear-mongering.

All in all, the rabbit is bouncy and fickle. The year ahead, say the masters, may prove to be interesting. And everybody knows about the warning against that.

Alfred Romann is a Hong Kong-based writer for China Daily Asia Weekly.