Your Essential Chinese Investing Toolbox

By: Money_and_Markets

If you read my Money and Markets column on a regular basis, you're probably interested in the lucrative investment opportunities that can be found in Asia and particularly China.

One of the most common questions I receive from readers is HOW to research both the Asian economies and individual companies. The language barriers and lack of media coverage in the U.S. lead many investors to believe the task is daunting. But it's a lot easier than you think ... if you know where to look!

I devote several hours of each day to following Asian markets and spend thousands of dollars on institutional-level research, but you can get a very good handle on Asia — for free — by spending the equivalent of a coffee break browsing the headlines of some Asian newspapers, magazines, and websites.

Today, I am going to give you my six favorite free English-language websites for information on the Asian stock markets. I call them the Essential Chinese Investor Toolbox .

Tool #1: International Herald Tribune is the Wall Street Journal of the world. Its business section offers serious coverage for Asian stock markets and individual Asian companies from Japan, Taiwan, India, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand as well as China. For an overall view of Asia, the IHT is your best bet.

Caijing is China's premier business and economic periodical.

Tool #2: Caijing is China's most influential business and economic magazine. It's packed with in-depth, big-picture economic stories about the Chinese economy. Cajing posts one or two new stories each day and anybody that regularly reads these articles will soon know more about the Chinese economy than most of the so-called experts on Wall Street.

Tool #3: The Standard. Beijing may be the capital of China, but Hong Kong is the finance center of Asia. And The Standard is the main business newspaper for Hong Kong. Its business section has the very best coverage of earnings news for both Hong Kong and mainland China companies. If you're interested in individual Chinese stocks, this is must reading.

Tool #4: Shanghai Eastday News. Shanghai's history as the trading hub of China has transformed it into the economic center of mainland China. Seldom a day goes by that I don't glean at least one piece of very profitable information from its business section. Best of all, this newspaper gives you the Chinese — not western — perspective on Chinese news. After all, if you want to make money in Asia, you need to think like an Asian!

Tool #5: Straights Times. Singapore is to Asia what Switzerland is to the rest of the world. If you're an Asian zillionaire, Singapore is where you want to domicile your money because of its next-to-nothing taxation and iron-clad secrecy laws. Plus, Singapore is the third most popular place for Chinese companies to list their stocks after Hong Kong and the U.S.

Tool #6: Finance Asia is more of an institutional level news website but its best feature is the early notification of upcoming Asian initial public offerings (IPOs). Investing in hot Asian IPOs, even if you can't get in on the initial allocation, has proven to be a very, very profitable strategy in the past. And you have no chance of getting in on an IPO if you don't know about it! Finance Asia is where you'll hear about them first.

Bonus tool: Tony's Blog! I confess that I'm a little biased, but I think my daily blog should be your first stop each day. I'll highlight what I consider the most relevant Asian news of the day and help you connect the dots between that news and investment opportunities. Like the other aforementioned sites, my blog is free ... and free is always a very good price.

That may sound like a lot of reading and it is if you read every article on those sites. But what I suggest is that you stop by each of those sites once or twice a week, browse the headlines, and only read the articles that sound like they contain information that may help you make money.

Time-wise, it should take you no more than 10-15 minutes. Do that and you'll become a better informed and more confident investor.

And there's no better time to get started because ...

Asian Markets Should Really Boost Your Investment Returns!

For years, I've been saying that Asia is the fastest growing region in the world. But don't take my word for it. Listen to what Standard & Poor's just said:

"What we are arguing is that the Asian region has developed within itself very strong drivers for growth, which tends to offset the influence of the weakening U.S. economy."

Entrepreneurship is at an all-time high across Asia, with China and India leading the way.

S&P expects Asian economies to continue to grow despite a U.S. recession because of the regional powerhouses, China and India. They expect China will expand 9.5% to 10% in 2008 and by 9% to 9.5% in 2009.And they think India will grow almost as fast — 8.2% to 8.7% in 2008 and 7.9% to 8.4% in 2009.

In fact, S&P thinks all of Asia (minus Japan) will grow at least 8% in 2008 and 2009 while the U.S. economy will likely shrink in the short-term.

For investors, I think that information is a roadmap for profitable investing for the next several years!

Best wishes,

Tony

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