Previous Tiger Years

How did we fare?

In 2010, the Metal Tiger hit a steady stride to produce a fairly good year, generally following our prediction. The Earth Tiger in 1998 was a bit of a slacker and ended up where he started after some ups and downs. The movement of the Fire Tiger was that of a cat on a hot tin roof; he spent the year ocelotting all over the place. Happily for those early investors, his jumping mostly pushed the Hang Seng higher.

Sectors

In Chinese philosophy, the five elements provide a basic framework to understand relationships between everything. Each year, wood, fire, earth, metal and water dance around each other, some ruling throughout, others bursting out for a month or so. We apply Feng Shui theory to the markets by assigning certain industries to each element to determine their general trajectory.

Affliction deflection

How to mitigate negative energy

Feng Shui determines the points on the compass assigned to potential negative energies, or qi, in their various guises. The usual suspects are the Tai Sui, Tsui Po, San Sha and Wu Wang: intangible forces meandering across the Feng Shui firmament, so if the predictions are not in your favour, purchase a canister of reality and breathe deep . . . you'll be fine.

Property outlook

The tiger's domain

We highlight the most auspicious directions and what areas to avoid. The flying stars work in any organised space - it may be as large as the planet or as small as your home. Here we focus on the sectors in that grid, and how these forces manifest in the property and business market. This year, the Northeast is best but be respectful of the Tai Sui. Avoid the Centre, where everything crumbles and the earth retakes all.