It has been a turbulent period in the Middle East regions especially with the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions. Now there were some unrest at Libya, which is reported to be a country with the largest oil field reserves in Africa. There are some protests reported in Bahrain as report in the news channels and media. There was an earthquake measuring 6.3 at Christchurch, New Zealand. It seems there are so many negative news around the world but how does it affect me in Bukit Mertajam, Penang, Malaysia?
First, life goes on as usual in Bigfoothill and people here just lived in peace. If you are an investor in the stock market and commodity, you either profit from the above situations as the oil prices have gone up and if you own petroleum stocks and commodity, it is a gain for you. However, if you are investing in some other stocks that are averse to the increase in oil prices, such as airlines and shipping companies, you probably have to cut your losses by selling the shares as it tumbles as these companies are likely to incur higher cost for running their operations and thus reducing their profits. There are investors who are having sleepless nights if they are investing on margins as they may soon have to top up with cash. KL Stock Exchange (KLSE) or Bursa Malaysia also saw the main benchmark index dropped by two digits from yesterday's closing point at the close of today's morning session. So perhaps, it is an opportunity for bargain hunting time for small investors.
As for currency traders, those who are holding NZ Dollars are having their exchange value drops against major currencies due to the earthquake disaster. How is it going to affect me non-politically but financially? Gold prices also soar as it is a commodity that is seen as a safe haven. So if you are planning to get some gold jewelries for weddings and other happy occasions, it is going to be expensive to buy now than previously.
The importers of NZ produce will be able to buy goods from NZ at cheaper price if its countries currency appreciated against NZ Dollars. So probably, I can go to Tesco and expect sales of Kiwi fruits at cheaper price per kilogram. However, it can be more expensive if the natural disaster have caused the Kiwi Fruit farms to be destroyed or affected and thus reduced the availability of the fruits for export. The same goes to the milk and diary products from New Zealand.
Well, a professional investor will be busy at work at this hour as the above situations around the world are affecting us globally and present an opportunity to make quick profit from buying cheap stocks and commodity and selling it later at a higher price when market situations improved.
I am just looking at it from a general view of a layman who is happy to live in a peaceful nation. Though some of Malaysians studying and working in those affected countries are directly affected by the events in those countries, majority of Malaysians are just busy with their daily routine. Probably, the politicians are a little concerned as there are going to be two simultaneous by-elections at Merlimau, in Melaka(Malacca) and Kerdau in Pahang. These two by elections are due to the incumbents elected representatives died due to heart-attacks. Let us hope the political parties are making a better decision in the future when they pick their candidates who are healthy to serve the people and not waste our people's money.
Last night, I was following the news on Malaysian TV1 and the Election Commission Chairman said he had budgeted and requested for an allocation for a whopping RM50millions in anticipation of the Sarawak State Election that will be held soon and he does not want to be caught unprepared as these huge amount of money are used to hire 4 helicopters, speed boats, 4 wheel drives and many other logistic and election supervisors and workers.
I wonder a poorer nation in a third world country could put to good use this huge amount of money to upgrade the standard of living of its people. But then, there is such a risk of the leaders of the poor country keeping the wealth to themselves and suppressing the human rights of its people so much so that one day in the future the people will rise up and demand for their rights and that will be the day that we will be seeing events like the one in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya now.
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