Greed Kills -- News Report

Teacher in $130,000 debt over World Cup bets

By MAUREEN KOH

HE was thrilled when Germany beat Australia 4-0 in the Group Stage match at the World Cup last month.

In just under two hours, the first-time bettor made $6,000 - the equivalent of two months' salary for the secondary school teacher.

But by the time Brazil suffered a quarter-final defeat by Holland, John's thrill had turned into shock and fear.

He had chalked up nearly $130,000 losses in bets with three different illegal bookmakers.

The only way for him to pay off his debts was to sell his car.

He started with "small bets between $2,000 and $4,000" for the first two matches, but upped the stakes to as high as $10,000 for each bet.

At his request, we are not using his real name as he risks losing his job.

In the hour-long interview with The New Paper on Sunday earlier this week, John, 28, who has been teaching for two years, pleaded repeatedly: "Please, please don't name the school too.

"I can't afford to lose my job now - my future will be gone."

Gearing of REITs

I have had some questions on what is meant by gearing of REITs and how it could affect a REIT.

What is gearing?
In the most simple terms, gearing is calculated by the amount of liabilities dividends by the total assets valuation.

Let's say for REIT X, the valuation of all its buildings and assets comes out to $1 billion. The total liabilities is $300 million. This will work out to a gearing of 30%. [I stand to be corrected in my concepts. Feel free to comment if my understanding is wrong.]

Different countries would have different policies for the maximum gearing for a REIT. In Singapore, there's a cap of 35% gearing.

STI Technical Analysis 8th Jul 2010

Although STI rallied nicely, I don't have a good feeling about this rally.

Reasons:
1) volume is low. The volume over the past few days rally is below the volume 50 day MA. I will only consider it good volume if it is higher than the 50 day MA (i.e. NOL).

2) STI closed with a hanging man candlestick pattern right at the resistance line and the upper bollinger band. Of course, it would be good to see a confirmation candle tomorrow.

Chart:

STI Technical Analysis 6th Jul 2010

It has been a long time since I looked at the STI chart. Had been really busy.

I took another look at STI, and found a more bullish Elloitt wave count. We could be in a minor wave 4 of Pri 1 instead of having begun on Pri 2.