The financial markets may look like they're running amok heading into the lunar new year starting February 8 but not for long, predicts Hong Kong-based brokerage CLSA, which is forecasting gains for the rest of the quarter.
In its annual Feng Shui Index, CLSA said that there will be a market recovery after a "shocking start" to 2016. After all, the monkey tends to make a loud entrance in traditional Beijing opera, the house noted.
Now into its 22nd edition, the tongue-in-cheek forecast of the lunar year ahead predicts that industries related to metal and water will strengthen in the first half of the lunar year. Other than gold and silver, the auto, financial, gaming, transport and machinery sectors will prosper, CLSA predicts.
Fire will flare in the third quarter, aiding telecommunication, technology, utility sectors as well as oil and gas.
The monkey will then run amok in the final quarter of the lunar year--which ends on January 27, 2017--with things turning upside down for sectors related oil and gas, utilities, technology, telecoms and the internet, predicts the brokerage. Sectors related to the metal element will come back in favour.
Originating from China, feng shui is an ancient science aimed at creating balance. While it is usually used to position objects and in architecture, the more superstitious believe it can divine the future, and many seek out feng shui masters and geomancers to choose auspicious dates for life events, such as marriages.
Accordingly, CLSA has advice for what individuals can expect as it warns US presidential hopeful and billionaire Donald Trump--who is born in the year of the Fire Dog-to watch his cash outflow and "beware" of Hillary Clinton who is born in the year of the Fire Pig, "a good pal of the Monkey". For the record, it will be a year of struggle for all Fire Dogs, added CLSA.
It's not a spectacular year for for Fire Pigs too, added CLSA analyst Marco Yau, one of the writers for the report. Meanwhile, those born in the year of the snakes should prepare for an extreme outcome: they'll have either an extremely good or bad year.
"My personal advice to (Trump and Clinton) is probably they have to beware of the snakes in the grass, because (Michael) Bloomberg was born in the year of the snake," said Yau. The former New York City mayor is reportedly considering a bid for the US presidency.
And just in case you're wondering, CLSA advises you to take its financial almanac with a grain of salt, or a cool banana mocktail.
Beyond monkey tactics, the year of the primate will bring about a baby boom in China, according to local reports. This is because the monkey is seen to be intelligent and lively - characteristics that are more desirable than the previous zodiac sign of the goat (or sheep) which is seen to be docile and more likely to be a follower than a leader.
The Chinese Communist Party's People's Daily reported that there was a jump in the number of pregnant women who were reserving beds for delivery this upcoming lunar year.