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SINGAPORE, Oct 16, 2008 (AFP) - A jovial mood prevails among the small group gathered to watch Singapore's stock market plummet.
About a dozen people, mostly older Chinese men, stand in front of two screens flashing the ailing fortunes of Singapore's bourse.
'Most of them are retired men. What they do is, they come here for intra-day profit,' explained Albert Tan, 59, who says he regularly joins the group in front of two monitors, like large television screens, beside a coffee shop on the ground floor of the towering UOB bank headquarters.
After Wall Street shares suffered their worst percentage drop in 21 years, stocks on the Singapore Exchange were down more than six percent, and almost every company on the screens showed up red.
But that did not matter to Tan and the others.
'They are looking for high volume,' he said, pointing to the top of the screen which showed one stock, Jiutian Chemical Group Ltd, trading 2.7 million shares in two minutes.
'That means the price will go down,' said Tan.
Stocks like Jiutian, at five cents a share, are appealing to these small-time investors.
'If it's a few cents, then ordinary people can buy,' said Tan, a recent retiree from Singapore Airlines.
In the old days before computers, he said, investors like him gathered in public galleries at brokerage houses to watch the numbers go up on a blackboard.
Rather than monitoring the stock exchange website, he said he prefers to check the public screens because they give more detailed data.
'At home, Internet, you don't see anything,' he said.
In front of the group, one older Chinese man in sandals stands holding a plastic bag, staring at the screens.
Tan is mostly staying out of the market because of its volatility. But if he spots an attractive stock, all he has to do is pull the mobile phone from his pocket and call his dealer.
'This time I'm very cautious. Previous time, yes, I lost some money,' said Tan, who has been playing the market for about 20 years.
Another regular in front of the screens, Mike Mathialagan, says he is also staying largely on the sidelines.
'I've been telling everybody here... don't come to the market until the dust has gone down,' he says in a loud voice.
Mathialagan talks as fast as the market is falling, and keeps stock index figures on the tip of his tongue.
He describes himself as working in 'freelance sales' while playing the market part-time and says he made about 150,000 dollars (100,000 US) on stocks last year.
With his right hand on the hip of his jeans, Mathialagan says he sold his holdings last August and boasts that he forecast the current Straits Times Index level -- just above 1,900 points -- six months ago.
'All the people here were thinking I'm crazy,' he said, swinging his arms around.
Now he says he is waiting for the index to reach 1,400 points before he makes a serious move back into the market.
In the meantime Mathialagan, too, is buying and selling on a very short-term basis.
'At this juncture we are not going to buy and hold. Hit and run,' he says.
SINGAPORE, Oct 16, 2008 (AFP) - A jovial mood prevails among the small group gathered to watch Singapore's stock market plummet.
About a dozen people, mostly older Chinese men, stand in front of two screens flashing the ailing fortunes of Singapore's bourse.
'Most of them are retired men. What they do is, they come here for intra-day profit,' explained Albert Tan, 59, who says he regularly joins the group in front of two monitors, like large television screens, beside a coffee shop on the ground floor of the towering UOB bank headquarters.
After Wall Street shares suffered their worst percentage drop in 21 years, stocks on the Singapore Exchange were down more than six percent, and almost every company on the screens showed up red.
But that did not matter to Tan and the others.
'They are looking for high volume,' he said, pointing to the top of the screen which showed one stock, Jiutian Chemical Group Ltd, trading 2.7 million shares in two minutes.
'That means the price will go down,' said Tan.
Stocks like Jiutian, at five cents a share, are appealing to these small-time investors.
'If it's a few cents, then ordinary people can buy,' said Tan, a recent retiree from Singapore Airlines.
In the old days before computers, he said, investors like him gathered in public galleries at brokerage houses to watch the numbers go up on a blackboard.
Rather than monitoring the stock exchange website, he said he prefers to check the public screens because they give more detailed data.
'At home, Internet, you don't see anything,' he said.
In front of the group, one older Chinese man in sandals stands holding a plastic bag, staring at the screens.
Tan is mostly staying out of the market because of its volatility. But if he spots an attractive stock, all he has to do is pull the mobile phone from his pocket and call his dealer.
'This time I'm very cautious. Previous time, yes, I lost some money,' said Tan, who has been playing the market for about 20 years.
Another regular in front of the screens, Mike Mathialagan, says he is also staying largely on the sidelines.
'I've been telling everybody here... don't come to the market until the dust has gone down,' he says in a loud voice.
Mathialagan talks as fast as the market is falling, and keeps stock index figures on the tip of his tongue.
He describes himself as working in 'freelance sales' while playing the market part-time and says he made about 150,000 dollars (100,000 US) on stocks last year.
With his right hand on the hip of his jeans, Mathialagan says he sold his holdings last August and boasts that he forecast the current Straits Times Index level -- just above 1,900 points -- six months ago.
'All the people here were thinking I'm crazy,' he said, swinging his arms around.
Now he says he is waiting for the index to reach 1,400 points before he makes a serious move back into the market.
In the meantime Mathialagan, too, is buying and selling on a very short-term basis.
'At this juncture we are not going to buy and hold. Hit and run,' he says.
