Gold & Energy Performing Well After Fed Announcement

My Best of Funds portfolio had been in a funk for about three weeks, as I covered my shorts a bit early and didn't go long the market, sticking mainly with cash, precious metals, and miners. However, yesterday's move, and today's if things hold through the close, lifted the fund to a new all-time high. The $70 swing in gold, from yesterday's lows to today's highs, was the main catalyst, while higher oil prices helped. One stock I'd added recently was Hercules Offshore (HERO), up more than 20% today and over 40% in the fund. I can't really thank Ben Bernanke for the move, even though he's responsible. I'd prefer to invest in positive growth stories, rather than the destruction of the U.S. dollar—but I also prefer high probability trades to low probability ones.

I was checking to see how the Hong Kong and Chinese listed shares on my watch list were doing. On the Mainland, the notable mover was Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery <上海振华港口机械>(600320.SS), which gained just under the 10% limit.

A big mover on the Nasdaq was General Steel Holdings (GSI), up 12.8% yesterday and on pace for another 14% today.

In Hong Kong, Lingbao Gold <灵宝黄金> (3330.HK) climbed 15% and Mongolia Energy <蒙古能源> (0276.HK) advanced 20.9%.

Newsworthy (article links in English): ZTE reported 2008 full year earnings. <中兴通讯>(0763.HK, 000063.SZ)
Forbes also has an article on ZTE's push into the American smart phone market.

Tencent reported 2008 full year earnings. <腾讯> (0700.HK)

Li Ning reported 2008 earnings. 中文 <李宁> (2331.HK)

Nice move for GR Vietnam - Watch List Update

I added GR Vietnam (0139.HK)to my watch list of Hong Kong and Mainland listed stocks because it provides exposure to the Vietnamese consumer market. Shares have popped in the past week though. It had been sitting around HK$0.05 to HK$0.06 for about three months, but it rose to HK$0.17 today. It's up 246% since I added it to my watch list on January 22.

Other shares are up as well due to an overall market rally. The best performers among my January 22 new additions was Ming Hing Water (added January 20; 0402.HK), up 7.69%; Sinoma (1893.HK, up 7.91%; China Dongxiang (3818.HK), up 16.35%; Lingbao Gold (3330.HK), up 43.37%; and Zijin Mining (2899.HK), up 21.50%. The worst performance came from Sinofert (0297.HK), down 3.16%; and Swire Pacific (added January 7; 0019.HK), a Marc Faber pick, down 18.08%.

There's still plenty of shares on my list down in a range from 30-60+%, especially in the materials sector.

China's stimulus package should deliver a boost to some infrastructure companies. I notice the chart on Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery <上海振华港机>(600320.SS) has had a nice steady rebound from November.

Mengniu (2319.HK), mentioned on this blog before, lost 10% on Wednesday and fell as much as 20% during the day. Caijing<财经> has two articles on the company: Chemical Additives in Mengniu Milk Prohibited and Dumex, Mengniu Dairy Products under Probe. Originally I thought they'd be able to pull out of the scandal, but the brand erosion may be approaching the point of no return.