Chinese Year of the Ox Ploughs into Asian Stocks

Tony Tan, a Singapore-based astrologer, is urging investors heading into the ‘Year of the Ox’ to emulate the beast that lends its name to the lunar new year -- be patient and deliberate.

Concerns about the global economy that pummeled Asian stocks in 2008 will persist, causing the MSCI Asia Pacific Index to extend last year’s record 43 percent slump, according to astrologers including Tan, who founded the Harmony Academy of Chinese Metaphysics in 1995.

Just like the ox, “investors should be patient and position for a potential market upturn in 2010,” said Tan, a former broker at the securities arm of DBS Group Holdings Ltd. He predicted correctly last year that markets would peak and investors will suffer losses.