KUALA LUMPUR: Chinese youths should be exercise great caution when entering the stock market, and to treat it as a long-term investment rather than a short-term ‘speculative investment’, said Tan Sri T.C Goh, the President of the Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia (Huazong).
He noted that there has been a growing trend of Chinese youths entering the stock market during the pandemic period, with the hope of making extra incomes to stay afloat. He however advised them to always exercise great caution and to seek professional advice from the experts, before making their moves.
He advised this while officiating at the nationwide online investment talk themed “Value Invest” which was jointly hosted by Huazong youth wing and Grandpine Capital Sdn Bhd (GCSB), on Wednesday. The said online talk was conducted by GCSB’s chief lecturer Alfred Chen, and hosted by its Business Development Manager, Izaac Tan. The 10-session talk was broadcasted via Huazong youth’s official Facebook page.
Goh who is also the President of the Federation of Chinese Associations Sabah (FCAS) also viewed positively the trend of increasing number of young investors, especially Chinese youths, in the stock market. He said this showed that many young Malaysians possessed strong financial desires and capacity to pursue financial security. He noted that, in the past one year, there has been an increase of 300,000 new investors/retail investors in Bursa Malaysia, and a sizeable number of them were young Chinese investors.
He said, Bursa Malaysia recent data revealed that, within the short period of seven months from January to July 2020, it has registered up to 218,000 depositors, which was more than half of its 97,000 depositors for the same period of previous year; And in the month of July 2020 alone, there were around 100,000 new applicants in its waiting list. Normally, it takes between two to three months to complete processing the applications. Hence, it was believed that the total number of new depositors for 2020 was no less than 300,000 depositors.
Bursa Malaysia statistics also revealed that 65% of the applicants were aged between 25 to 40 years-old, and 71% of the retail investors were male, with 70% of them being Chinese and 30% Malays; this clearly indicated that Chinese youths have started to venture into the stock market in a big way during the pandemic, while Malay investors too have increased by 20% in the last two years.
Goh further noted that, with increasing number of young investors entering the Bursa, it has significantly boosted online transactions as 74% of the retail investors conducted their transactions online.
Likening stock market investment to a poker game, he reiterated that rookies should first strive to acquire the knowledge and skills of stock investment, instead of going in blindly and emotionally.
“Besides this, luck also matters, but most importantly is one’s mindset based on proper market research,” he added.
Meanwhile, Alfred who possessed 17 years of experience in conducting investment lectures, advised investors not to adopt a gambler’s mindset when making their moves, in order to avoid incurring heavy losses. He emphasised that they should treat stocks as a form of legitimate business investment, and to always adopt a professional approach to invest in it.-pr/BNN
