Markets purge

It’s crazy, commented my friend Jeffrey as we sat watching the freefall in the Bursa Malaysia this morning.

The market had opened sharply lower and as we watched, the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index had already shed some 70 points. Almost 600 counters were in the red and less than 10 were in positive territory. The remaining counters must have froze up then, as they were untraded.

Elsewhere, we heard that the Japan Nikkei, Hongkong Hang Seng and Singapore Straits Times indices were also down sharply, but Shanghai had rebounded.

Jeffrey was telling me that one of his friends was complaining that he had lost about RM80,000 since yesterday but what is this loss compared to the RM200,000 that was gained previously? One mustn’t be too greedy.

At least, he still had some profits from his speculation. Jeffrey was telling me that one of his remisier friends was at the receiving end of investors who were scolding him for their losses. As if it was all his fault that the market went down.

But at least, that’s not as bad as what another remisier told me. He has a colleague who simply sat transfixed at his terminal, unable to react to all the market movements or even incoming telephone calls. He must have been affected badly personally.

I wonder what was going on in his head …. worrying over the loss of his clients’ money or losing his own? I guess it is both.

Are you affected by the market turbulence? Leave me a comment.