Letter to a friend

this is for cl cuz he keep calling me and asking me abt malaysian shares but share with others also for those interested

cl, first i must say hor... i am only newbie. i only share with u some sources of information and some newbie tips/understanding i learned along the way about local shares. actually i wanted to learn about shares long time and read many books but without first hand going in, no use, all theory cannot apply. but i met a new friend abt 2 years back who happen to be very interested in shares and actively trade midterm and he was very generous in teaching me and sharing with me watever he knows even though he is not really sifu(his trading account around 200k although he works only as a maxis promotion event supervisor/technical support). because of him.. i know a bit more to dare to invest more and as such learn more.
anyway here are some understanding i have on shares

1) there are many ways to invest in shares and one should learn the many art of it if u want to be good in it. just like badminton, u may win some points if u good in smash or lobe, but if u are very good in all strokes and movement, then u are nearer to become world class player

2) profiting from shares consistently requires one to make good decisions. To make good decisions, u need to analyze. To be able to analyze, u need timely reliable information. The more information u have that can help u make the decision the better. Most importantly, u must know not all information hold the same weightage. But the more information u have that gives u reasons to buy(or sell), then the better off u are in making the correct decision. However, u can also buy or sell shares using the lazy man's way, although with equally potent results...by simply following someone u know who is very good. The problem to this though, is that u will be slower. It is often possible to buy at the same time/price when ur sifu buys. But will he tell u to sell when he sells? usually when a person exit, he will unlikely to inform others because he will want to exit while others are buying simply because prices rise slower than when they fall, and also because usually a person has no incentive to tell others to exit after he exit, unlike buying.(because in m'sia, shorting is banned) A person who bought may have incentive to ask others to buy to drive the price higher, but not when after he sells.Another lazy way is also trade on general market trend.

3)Buying shares can actually be a game of skill but many treat it as a game of chance(like gambling). To many gamblers, the games they gamble on actually is a game of LARGELY chance, but they treat it as a game of skill!It is no wonder so many ppl can go broke in both stock market and in gambling.

Anyway...i think i wrote too much already although i got more to share. but late already so here i let you know some of the sites i rely on for some important info

1. http://www.thestar.com.my/
top right hand corner, u can select stock and type in ur stock name here u can look at the different charts of individual stocks. Charts are important for short to midterm trading, because it shows u the price range.
after u get a chart, u can see on the right side fori)fundamentalsii) s/holding chg(insider/major shareholder recent buy or sell)u can also select up to a year for the chart
left side u can get a summary of stocks with recent changes in shareholding

2. http://www.klse.com.my/
this is the mother of all info. all financial statements will come here first. so if u like to get into fundamentals, this is a must. For me, i like to come here to get more detailed info on Changes in shareholdings(insider buy/sell). Fundamentals reading requires u to understand at least basic accounting and take time to go through. Majority of layman wouldn't give a hoot to it.

3. http://www.tradesignum.com/chart/
here u can track klci and also individual stocks other longer periods, right up to the 1980s or the stock inception. and here u can train urself to become technical analyst too.

4. http://forum.lowyat.net/StockExchange
Forums! this is my favourite forum to eavesdrop onto rumours. usually i will go through latest talks for the first tread(currently is Stock Market v49). there are many other forums and as u lepak around, u will know the different personalities of various long-time players... some dependable, some manipulators, some bodoh newbies like me, some are actually remisiers and some i believe are actually very rich individuals.some other forums
http://stockmarket.tailou.com/
http://www.investlah.com/forum/index.php?board=3.0

5. blogs - there are many. many come and go too.there are some of the local bests.
http://www.samgang.blogspot.com/
-sam is probably one of the most influential local blogger on shares. his returns are impressively. until recently he used to blog for free but now if u want to know his tips, need to subscribe yearly for i think US40. which of cuz is fooking cheap. he is can be lansi in his ways to slam pure technical traders, but his fundamental methods campur with a tad of technical methods makes him worthy of his lansi-ness.
http://nexttrade.blogspot.com/
very good analyst and info. but i find by the time he blogs about certain shares, the shares usually would have moved.
some other interesting ones
http://malaysiafinance.blogspot.com/
http://whereiszemoola.blogspot.com/

5. news
local
http://www.theedgemalaysia.com/
http://www.btimes.com.my/
overseas
http://money.cnn.com/http://www.cnbc.com/

Lastly, as i said, with so much info load, one must remember much of the info is useless. To start of, focus on learning some basic fundamentals - PE, ROE, sales, debt ratio. Learn some basic technical indicators. Listen to customers(could be yourself) about products of the company. Think about the management team(family?, highflyers? newbies? GLC?). Think abit of the industry and stock market cycle-buy low and sell high. Not buy high and hope to sell higher. Try it out and keep learning. Learn also various manipulation possible by market players. And last but not least, understand that the emotions of fear and hope can undermine all your learning or analysis. U must conquer them and not let emotions conquer you.