STI: Up or down?

Looking into crystal balls can be hazardous to health because they give you signs of what might be and not what will be. Usually cryptic and sometimes perverse, it's best to avoid these magical objects. However, being human, I have the failings of our kind, the type of failings which got us kicked out of Paradise in the first instance.

In a post dated 12 Jan, I wondered if a correction was at hand and on 13 Jan, it looked as if a correction was underway. For a recap, please seeConfirming the signs. However, on 14 Jan, things did a u-turn and that got people wondering if there would be more upside to come.

To me, the recent ups and downs of the STI is a sign that a correction is probably going to happen. A 3000 points initial target which so many analysts have talked about is so near and yet so far. The market is grudging and unwilling to give bulls the satisfaction (yet). Analysts have also talked about a 3300 points eventual target for the STI by end 2010. That's a mere 10% from where we are now.

Marc Faber, in an interview with Yahoo! Finance on 13 Jan said that he is no longer bullish on stocks because everyone is now bullish on stocks. Marc is a shrewd contrarian who has been proven right time and time again. He made the observation that many stocks' prices are flattening out and that once the momentum fizzles out, momentum players who are in the market for the upward momentum and not to hold long term positions, will pull out and they will pull out fast! We will then have a correction in earnest. It would be prudent for us to take Marc's views seriously.

What are we to do? I suggest keeping an eye on the newsflow and on the STI at the same time for signs.

During the recent multi-months recovery from the market bottom, we saw how streams of bad news were brushed aside as the market powered upwards. That was a powerful sign that a cyclical bull was charging back. It was a sign which many ignored much to their regret later on. At best, disbelievers missed out on a money making opportunity of a lifetime. At worst, shortists were caught with their pants down and lost their pants in the process (and some even got spanked on their backsides).

If we get a constant stream of positive newsflow and the STI hardly budges but a slight whiff of negative news sends it down, the signs are clear: a correction is not far away.

A saying from Warren Buffet now rings clear in my mind: Be fearful when others are greedy! That is a generalisation like many of his sayings. It serves to inform and not to instruct. That's where many would be Buffets got it wrong. They think his sayings are instructions.

Personally, I believe in being a pragmatist and not being overly bullish or bearish. I believe in hedging. I have taken some profit off the table, leaving some long positions in the market in case it decides to go higher. After all, crystal balls reveal only part of the picture, leaving us to form our own conclusions and, usually, we see what we want to see.

Video added on 11 Feb 2010:

SPH, Healthway Medical and Golden Agriculture

SPH
After the positive newsflow yesterday, SPH powered upwards to $3.82 forming a wickless white candle today. This effectively broke the resistance provided by the declining 200wMA at $3.80. As the white candle day took place on the back of very much higher volume, the target of $4.00 which I identified in earlier posts looks attainable. This is especially so with the MFI rising rapidly today but has yet to reach the overbought region. To those who hedged and bought some when SPH was at support ($3.60 to $3.62) recently, congratulations.

Healthway Medical
A black candle day and Healthway Medical closed lower at 18c on higher volume. The gravestone doji was a harbinger of bad news, after all. MFI continues to decline and is emerging out of the overbought region. Expectation is for the weakness to continue. Support levels identified in an earlier post are still valid.Healthway Medical: Black spinning top.

Golden Agriculture
A white candle day on reduced volume does not impress me. Unable to gap close on a white canlde day is a bearish sign and the gap resistance at 61.5c remains. I am still of the view that the price will weaken and, therefore, I shall wait to accumulate at supports on the way down. If the price should rise instead and the gap resistance is taken out, initial resistance would be the recent high of 65.5c and the eventual target is 69c.