EasyASB

Prestasi Harga Emas Spot 2011

2012-01-11T21:34:00.000+08:00

Harga emas spot telah naik daripada USD1388.50 kepada USD1531.00, iaitu kenaikan sebanyak 10.26% bagi tahun 2011. Ia kenaikan yang agak sederhana berbanding dengan tahun-tahun yang lepas.

Prestasi PBIBF 2011 9.32%

2012-01-07T09:52:00.000+08:00

Antara dana Unit Trust yang cemerlang sepanjang 2011 adalah dana bond PBIBF yang memberi pulangan sebanyak 9.32%. Memang agak cemerlang ketika pasaran saham merudum.

Prestasi Public Ittikal 2011

2012-01-06T08:49:00.001+08:00

Prestasi Public Ittikal untuk tahun 2011 agak hambar apabila tidak mampu mengatasi penanda aras FBMS. Dana Ittikal hanya mampu memberi pulangan negatif iaitu -1.62%.

Prestasi MAAKL Al-Faid 2011

2012-01-05T08:27:00.000+08:00

Prestasi dana ekuiti Al-Faid untuk tahun 2011 agak kurang cemerlang apabila tidak mampu mengatasi indeks KLCI. Dana Al-Faid memberikan pulangan yang lebih rendah iaitu -1.52% berbanding indeks KLCI yang memberi pulangan -0.18%.

Prestasi Dana Bond MAAKL As-Saad 2011

2012-01-04T07:52:00.001+08:00

Tahun 2011 menyaksikan dana bond mengatasi dana ekuiti. Ia suatu yg jarang berlaku. Pulangan As-Saad untuk tahun 2011 adalah 4.64% berbanding dana ekuiti Syariah Index yg memberi pulangan sebanyak 3.62%.

Prestasi MAAKL Syariah Index 2011

2012-01-03T20:43:00.000+08:00

Prestasi dana Syariah Index untuk tahun 2011 adalah lebih baik berbanding indeks KLCI. Ia agak rendah selaras dengan pergerakan pasaran saham global yang merudum ekoran krisis hutang di US dan negara-negara Eropah. Untuk tahun 2011, dana Syariah Index memberi pulangan 3.62%, berbanding indeks KLCI yang memberi pulangan negatif iaitu -0.18%.

Dividen ASB 2011 7.65 sen dan Bonus 1.15 sen

2011-12-21T16:11:00.001+08:00

Tahun 2011, ASNB mengumumkan dividen ASB meningkat sedikit iaitu 7.65 sen dan bonus 1.15 sen.

Petikan penuh Berita Harian Online:

KUALA LUMPUR: Pemegang unit Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB) akan menerima dividen sebanyak 7.65 sen seunit dan bonus 1.15 sen seunit bagi tahun kewangan berakhir 31 Disember 2011.

Agihan pendapatan itu meningkat 0.15 sen seunit berbanding agihan yang dibayar tahun lalu iaitu 7.50 sen seunit.

Pengerusi Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB), Tun Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid, berkata pengagihan pendapatan itu membabitkan pembayaran sebanyak RM7.04 bilion, meningkat 21 peratus berbanding RM5.82 bilion tahun lalu manakala peruntukan bagi pembayaran bonus pula sebanyak RM628.29 juta.

Pembayaran pengagihan pendapatan dan bonus ASB akan dikreditkan secara automatik ke dalam buku pelaburan pemegang unit yang boleh dikemaskini, mulai 3 Januari 2012.

Semua urus niaga ASB di ibu pejabat Amanah Saham Nasional Berhad (ASNB), pejabat dan ejen ASNB di seluruh negara akan ditangguhkan mulai 21 Disember sehingga 2 Januari depan.

“Prestasi ASB sepanjang 2011 adalah memuaskan meskipun pada suku terakhir, pasaran saham didagangkan dalam suasana tidak menentu dipengaruhi prestasi pasaran global yang terjejas berikutan ketidaktentuan ekonomi Amerika Syarikat (AS) dan krisis hutang Eropah,” katanya pada sidang media mengumumkan agihan pendapatan ASB, di sini, semalam.

Hadir sama Presiden dan Ketua Eksekutif Kumpulan PNB, Tan Sri Hamad Kama Piah Che Othman.
Ahmad Sarji berkata, sehingga 15 Disember 2011, tabung ASB memperoleh pendapatan kasar RM7.19 bilion, di mana pendapatan dividen daripada pelaburan dalam syarikat menyumbang sebanyak RM4.09 bilion, keuntungan daripada penjualan saham dalam syarikat menyumbang RM2.25 bilion dan RM0.85 bilion disumbangkan pendapatan pelaburan dalam instrumen jangka pendek dan lain pendapatan.

Beliau berkata, pengiraan pengagihan dan pendapatan itu berdasarkan purata baki pegangan minimum bulanan bagi tempoh pelaburan sepanjang tahun kewangan 2011, manakala pengiraan bonus pula berdasarkan purata baki pegangan minimum bulanan 10 tahun bermula dari 2002 hingga 2011.

Katanya, kadar pengagihan pendapatan dan bonus tabung ASB itu adalah kompetitif dibandingkan dengan instrumen pelaburan lain yang sesuai dijadikan perbandingan.

Sementara itu, Hamad Kama Piah, berkata pihaknya menerima sambutan yang menggalakkan daripada pemegang unit ASB untuk meningkatkan jumlah pelaburan masing-masing.

Beliau berkata, tahun ini penambahan dalam skim ASB melebihi RM13 bilion berbanding RM12.1 bilion tahun lalu.

“Peningkatan jumlah penambahan pelaburan dalam ASB ini menunjukkan pelabur percaya dan yakin dengan prestasi yang dicatatkan skim ini,” katanya.

Prestasi MAAKL Syariah Index sehingga November 2011

2011-11-30T23:41:00.001+08:00

Tidak banyak perubahan berlaku pada bulan November untuk dana Syariah Index, w/pun ia kembali selepas jatuh teruk pada bulan September. Pergerakan harga di pasaran saham bergerak pada julat yang agak sempit.

Prestasi MAAKL Syariah Index sehingga Oktober 2011

2011-10-31T23:29:00.001+08:00

Bulan Oktober ini menyaksikan dana MAAKL Syariah Index telah kembali pulih. Pelabur yang ada membeli unit pada harga terendah pada penghujung bulan September pasti telah mendapat pulangan yang lumayan, kerana harga seunit Syariah Index telah naik melebihi 10%.

Prestasi MAAKL Syariah Index sehingga Oktober 2011

2011-10-30T23:32:00.000+08:00

Prestasi MAAKL Syariah Index sehingga Sep 2011

2011-09-29T23:22:00.001+08:00

Bulan September 2011 menyaksikan pasaran saham menjunam teruk. Tidak ada yang terkecuali termasuklah Bursa Malaysia. Ia menyaksikan nilai dana ekuiti Syariah Index jatuh sebanyak -8.48%, walaupun ia lebih baik berbanding indeks KLCI yang jatuh lebih teruk iaitu -10.56%.

Dividen ASW2020 2011 6.5 sen

2011-08-19T16:15:00.001+08:00

ASNB mengumumkan pengagihan pendapatan 6.5 sen seunit untuk Amanah Saham Wawasan 2020 (ASW2020) bagi tahun kewangan berakhir 31 Ogos, 2011. Ini merupakan kenaikan 0.15 sen seunit berbanding pengagihan pendapatan 6.35 sen seunit tahun lalu. Pengagihan pendapatan tersebut membabitkan pembayaran berjumlah RM909.05 juta, iaitu peningkatan 17.72 peratus berbanding jumlah pembayaran RM772.19 juta pada tahun sebelumnya.

Sehingga 15 Ogos 2011, ASW 2020 telah memperolehi pendapatan kasar berjumlah RM1.158 bilion.Pengiraan pengagihan pendapatan adalah berdasarkan kepada purata baki pegangan minima bulanan bagi tempoh pelaburan sepanjang tahun kewangan ASW 2020, iaitu mulai 1 September, 2010 sehingga 31 Ogos 2011.Pengagihan pendapatan akan mula dikreditkan secara automatik ke dalam buku pelaburan pemegang unit pada 1 September tahun ini.

Prestasi PIEF 6 Bulan 2011 4.98%

2011-07-12T08:12:00.000+08:00

Dana PIEF memberi pulangan sebanyak 4.98% untuk tempoh 6 bulan pertama 2011.

Prestasi Ittikal 6 Bulan 2011 5.52%

2011-07-08T08:07:00.001+08:00

Dana Public Ittikal memberi pulangan sebanyak 5.52% untuk tempoh 6 bulan pertama 2011.

Prestasi PBIEF 6 Bulan 2011 5.55%

2011-07-04T08:02:00.000+08:00

Prestasi PBIEF untuk setengah tahun (6 bulan) 2011 cemerlang dengan pulangan sebanyak 5.5%.

Prestasi PISEF 6 Bulan 8.61%

2011-07-01T08:53:00.000+08:00

Dana Public Islamic Select Enterprises Fund (PISEF) memberi pulangan sebanyak 8.61% untuk tempoh 6 bulan 2011, iaitu 3 Jan 2011 hingga 30 Jun 2011. Suatu prestasi yg agak cemerlang, memandangkan situasi pasaran saham yg sangat volatile utk separuh tahun 2011 ini.

Don’t leave your family or children crying over your money?

2011-06-30T09:31:00.000+08:00

If you look at the news head line of Sunday Times recently, it said that “RM40 billion unclaimed cash and assets left by the dead”. To all, it is just a whopping figure. However to the families and children concerned, it is the much needed money they need to support the family and their children’s education. They have been struggling for years to get the money from the authority and many of them still unable to acquire their fair shares. All these are attributed to the fact that most of their family members die without leaving a will.

Though the deceased may have left lots of cash and property, the family members can not get their hands on them if there is no will.

Do You Still Think Will Writing Only for Rich People ?

The Answer: You should not be by now !

Many people have the perception that I do not need a will, I have no asset – the Will is only for Rich People with lots of assets. This is not true. Will is for everyone – especially for those who love and care for their loved one.

When a person makes a will, it allows the testator (will maker) to distribute the estate according to the person’s wishes. It will reduce the likelihood of a prolonged estate administration case because if a person died intestate (without a will) the process of getting the courts to provide a Letter of Administration could take years, averagely about 5 years. Besides, with a valid will, it helps to prevent family disputes over rights of ownership to the estate, and allows for the appointment of guardians of our own choice for our minor children.

We have been working hard to build up our wealth so that we could provide a good living for our loved one. While we have been putting the investment and protection puzzles into it places, we can not left out the last piece of the financial planning puzzle – Wealth Distribution – Wills & Trust.

Do not procrastinate, start off with a simple will to ensure our hard earned investments are well taken care off.

Where to Invest: Gold or CPO?

2011-06-29T10:40:00.000+08:00

Two commodities is currently the world’s interest, particularly crude palm oil and gold. Globe gold price is presently in the degree of U.S. $ 1,372 per troy ounce.

This value boost occurred about 30 percent within the previous yr. “Analysts estimate the price of gold might be the selection of U.S. $ one,450 per troy ounce, until the end of this yr,” Data U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), shows that gold manufacturing rose two.26 tons to 2350 tons in 2009. This creation, nine.six % beneath its peak in 2001.

Thomas Chaize, observers of gold as GoldSeek.com, observed that the decline in production has created the cost of gold soared. Inside a decade, gold prices rose from U.S. $ 275 troy ounces (one troy ounce equals 31.one grams) to more than U.S. $ 1,300 this month.

Meanwhile, planet crude palm oil costs now reaching the degree of U.S. $ 890 per ton. “Until the end in the yr, the price is going to be the variety U.S. $ 900-950 per tonne,” said Nico Omer Jonckheere, vice president of PT Valbury Asia Securities in Jakarta.

Which is, there is an boost of about 40.eleven percent in comparison with the typical CPO value inside the final yr (2009), namely at the level of U.S. $ 678 per ton. That worth is much higher than expectations of Indonesian Palm Oil Association (Gapki), which predicts only an enhance of 12 %.

The cost enhance can also be due to the imbalance amongst need and availability of merchandise with the CPO.

So it is as much as you pick which one? Gold Or CPO.

Gold vs Silver

2011-06-27T10:23:00.000+08:00

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- One question which I am asked regularly is how do investors decide how much of their precious metals dollars do they invest in gold bullion, and how much in silver? In other words, they are looking for a "ratio" to guide them. In fact, I will argue that there is an existing, visible ratio which provides investors with good guidance on allocating those investor dollars.

The gold/silver price ratio is a simple comparison of the price of silver vs. the price of gold. With these two commodities having played a vital role in human commerce (and human culture) for thousands of years, the gold/silver price ratio is arguably our oldest "economic statistic". For most of the last 5,000 years it has averaged approximately 15:1 -- until this century, when a combination of developments skewed this ratio to its most extreme imbalance in 5,000 years.

There are many ways to demonstrate that the current price ratio -- of well over 60:1 -- is both unjustified and unsustainable. The starting point is to observe that the element of silver is roughly 17 times more plentiful in the earth's crust than the element of gold. Indeed, what is strange is that our much more primitive ancestors (who had no way of analyzing the composition of the earth's crust) did a much better job of pricing these metals appropriately than their modern descendants.

The result of well over half a century of grossly distorting the price of silver, both in absolute terms and versus the price of gold has clearly set up this market for a spectacular default -- at which time the market will "correct" the price imbalance, in the most brutal manner possible. The evidence of this upcoming event is all around us, much of it compiled by the years of painstaking research by Ted Butler, the "dean" of silver commentators.

It is Mr. Butler who has chronicled the extreme-and-absurd manipulation of the silver market through the criminal activities of the bullion-banks in futures markets -- and mostly from New York's Comex exchange. As most of us know, identical activities have been taking place in the gold market, with GATA taking the lead in exposing that aspect of market-fraud.

The Kijang Emas Gold Bullion Coins

2011-06-21T08:47:00.000+08:00

Malaysia is the 12th country in the world to issue its own gold bullion coin. The Kijang Emas now joins the ranks of other international gold bullion coins.

The design of the obverse of the Kijang Emas depicts a barking deer ("kijang") in its natural habitat in the Malaysian jungle. The reverse side features the hibiscus, the national flower of Malaysia.

1 Troy ounce

Face value: RM200
Gold Purity: 99.99%
Standard weight: 31.105g
Diameter: 37.00 mm

1/2 Troy ounces	1/4 Troy ounces

Face value: RM100 Gold Purity: 99.99% Standard weight: 15.550g Diameter: 28.00 mm	Face value: RM50 Gold Purity: 99.99% Standard weight: 7.780g Diameter: 22.00 mm

The purchase and reselling price of Kijang Emas is determined by the prevailing international gold market price. The daily market price is posted on the BNM web site.

The Kijang Emas is minted by the Royal Mint of Malaysia and distributed by Maybank Berhad, which will also entertain further enquiries.

PLATINUM: THE RICH MAN'S GOLD

2011-06-13T10:34:00.000+08:00

WHY IS PLATINUM SO PRECIOUS AND CONSIDERED THE RICH MAN'S GOLD?

It is simply a matter of relative scarcity. Per the Platinum Guild International, platinum is the "most precious" of the precious metals for the following reasons:

(1) The annual supply of platinum is only about 130 tons - which is equivalent to only 6% (by weight) of the total Western World's annual mine production of gold - and less than one percent of silver's yearly mine production. Another amazing platinum trivia is the fact that more than twice as much steel is poured in the U.S. in only one day than the total world's platinum production in one year - indeed scarce!

(2) Approximately 10 tons of ore must be mined - sometimes almost a mile underground at temperatures greater than 120 degrees Fahrenheit - to produce one pure ounce of the "so-called white gold." Furthermore, the total extraction process takes six long months.

(3) All the platinum ever mined throughout history would fill a basement of less than 25 cubic feet.

(4) Although its relative weight does not contribute to its value, platinum is even heavier than gold - one cubic foot weighs a little more than 1,330 pounds, about 11% denser than gold. THAT'S WELL MORE THAN HALF A TON. Expressing platinum's weight differently, a six-inch cube of the white metal weighs about as much as an average man!

(5) Relative to volume mined, platinum has many more industrial uses than either silver or gold. In fact more than 50% of the yearly production of platinum is consumed (read destroyed) by industrial uses - unlike gold!

(6) Also unlike gold, there are no large inventories of above-ground platinum. Therefore, any breakdown in the two major supply sources would catapult the price of platinum into orbit.

EXTREMELY LIMITED SOURCES OF SUPPLY

Unlike nearly all metals and crude oil which are found throughout the world, important platinum deposits are limited to basically two areas of the world. Naturally, platinum is produced as a by-product in several areas of the world, but this production source is very insignificant. Only South Africa and the CIS (formally known as the USSR) have been blessed with what might be termed deposits of "industrial quantities" of the "Rich Man's Gold." And South Africa is far and away the most important of the two as it accounts for approximately 80% of the total world's annual mine production - AND MUCH MORE IMPORTANTLY 88% OF THE WORLD RESERVES OF PLATINUM. An interesting aside is the fact that South Africa controls more platinum reserves than ALL THE ARAB NATIONS CONTROL CRUDE OIL RESERVES. I say approximately 80% of world production, because that estimate is the consensus of the various sources. The CIS accounts for about 10%, the remainder is scattered around the world. Therefore, it is readily obvious to all observers that any political instability and/or labor turmoil in South Africa - and to a lesser extent in the CIS - would have an absolutely draconian impact upon platinum prices. As I mentioned previously, a general strike in South Africa would cause gold to soar, but it would take Jean Luk Picard (Star-Trek) at Warp 9.9 to catch up with zooming platinum prices.

In light of the metal's EXTREME scarcity, it is NOT surprising that more than 90% of the world's platinum production comes from only four mines: three in South Africa and one in the CIS. South Africa's prodigious platinum production comes mainly from Rustenburg (RPATY), Impala (IMPAY) and Lonrho (LNROY). And nearly all the CIS production comes from the Norlisk mine in Siberia. Interestingly, Rustenburg and Impala market prices have risen this year, despite the declining trend of gold and silver stocks. Currently, Rustenburg is up 33%, and Impala up about 20% from their 1997 lows. That type of relative strength usually portends much greater appreciation, once the precious metals begin their bull move.

PLATINUM PRODUCERS OUTSIDE SOUTH AFRICA

About three years ago I did some research on platinum. I discovered that a number of publicly owned companies produced platinum as a by-product. An example is the giant nickel producer in Canada, INCO. However, the financial fly in the ointment is that INCO's income from platinum production gets lost in their income statement, in that it represents such a minuscule amount relative to their other production. In fact my research only turned up one pure platinum play outside of South Africa. It is Stillwater Mining (PGMS) of Montana. Until about 1995 it was totally owned by Chevron Resources and the Manville Corporation. For whatever reasons the two giant corporations sold it to the public at about $14 per share, after which it roared to almost $29, when it corrected to support in the $15 area. In recent weeks renewed mutual fund interest in the stock has trampolined the price to about $24.

To my knowledge it is the only pure platinum play not subject to possible political instability and/or labor strife. I would be grateful if readers of this report would share any current platinum research and opinions they may have. Some sources estimate that Stillwater Mining accounts for about 3% of the annual supply of platinum.
Apart from the platinum producers already mentioned, there is one potentially interesting platinum play located in Zimbabwe, Africa. It is an Australian gold, platinum and diamond producer called Delta Gold (DGD). During the last few years Delta Gold has been exploring properties with platinum potential in Zimbabwe via a joint-venture with BHP Minerals. Though modest, actual platinum production has already begun in the Hartley Platinum Complex in Zimbabwe.

WORLD CONSUMPTION OF PLATINUM

Although an exhaustive analysis of the supply/demand dynamics of the white metal is beyond the scope of this report, this researcher would be remiss NOT to make some mention in this respect. Platinum supply/demand dynamics are tight - and getting tighter every month. While the western world's industrial demand is understandably a function of economic growth - which obviously increases at a moderate rate - emerging countries demand for platinum is literally exploding. For example, China. It is a well-known statistic that the Sino-behemoth has enjoyed the highest percent of annual economic growth of any nation in the world during the last 10 years. And there doesn't seem to be any slowing forecasted in the foreseeable future. China's platinum consumption has grown apace with its annual industrial production increases. The reader must be aware we are talking a dynamic society of more than 1.2 billion strong population. China's future platinum demand ALONE will tax current production capacity of the four major mines.

Annual platinum consumption is divided into three categories: 50% industrial uses; 40% jewelry manufacturing and 10% for investment purposes. Inscrutably, the Japanese account for 95% of the platinum jewelry demand.

PLATINUM'S INVESTMENT PROSPECTS

Historically, platinum prices run in tandem with the precious metals group (gold, silver, platinum and palladium). However, there are a couple of distinguishing characteristics to the "Rich Man's Gold." Platinum usually leads the other metals in any valid new bull move - albeit accompanied by palladium. Additionally, platinum is much more volatile on the upside and downside than is gold. Whereas during normal periods of rising precious metals prices, platinum enjoys a few dollars premium over gold, the platinum/gold spread widens considerably when the group is in a strong bull posture. In fact the platinum/gold spread has reached more than $200 occasionally during the last two decades. No one can foresee the future, but in the next precious metals bull market, it may well repeat the performance.
Whether a person should take the bullion investment approach, or the shares of the three South African platinum mining companies, or the North-American stock, Stillwater Mining, or the Australian Delta Gold, or even platinum coins - is a personal decision dependent upon numerous factors, and one's tolerance for risk. Unfortunately, discussion of these factors is beyond the scope of this report. Nevertheless, this researcher believes all will do well, once the bull market in precious metals begins its cycle anew.

Gold vs Crude Oil

2011-06-08T10:31:00.003+08:00

GOLD vs CRUDE OIL Oil producers normally find it in their best interest to add steadily to productive capacity. Gradual addition of capacity year after year keeps oil supply in rough equilibrium with demand as the global economy grows. Mild shortages and surpluses sometimes arise, but they are quickly addressed by market forces so long as monetary policy is anchored properly. It was really a monetary error that began throwing the oil market out of whack three years ago, one we wrote about at the time in forecasting a sharp decline in the price of oil. Specifically, it was the sharp deflation of the U.S. dollar which began in 1997-98. As the value of the dollar rose into deflationary territory -- as measured against gold, the best proxy for commodities, many countries were forced to break their dollar links and devalue their currencies. This triggered major global disruption, first in Asia and then in Latin America.

As global economy slowed, oil demand plunged, leaving an excess of oil on the market, which caused oil to fall harder and faster than gold or the currencies tracing the dollar. As the oil price fell to $10/bbl in 1998/99, oil producers at the margin were driven out of business. Those that remained stopped investing in infrastructure and production. Once the world economy adjusted to the deflation, in 1999, global growth resumed. Governments in Asia and Latin American began to find the keys to growth, stabilizing their currencies and jettisoning some of the austere fiscal policies pressed upon them by the IMF and World Bank. The rebound in commerce quickly increased the need for oil. Demand began to exceed available inventories, pushing prices up and out of their traditional trading locus. Had oil producers at the margin not been totally destroyed by the 1997-98 commodity depression, no supply shortages would have emerged.

The oil price should come back down as high prices pull capital towards higher relative returns, which implies more production -- but the process will take a while. The 1997/98 oil price plunge had a searing effect on producers, who obviously do not want to be burned again, should another deflation be right around the corner. Oil producers may not have identified price swings as monetary deflation, but they certainly grasped the concept that committing to new fixed capacity is more risky in an environment where the nominal price is highly volatile. As long as the dollar is not fixed in terms of gold, its volatility will continue to throw off misleading signals of capital shortages and surpluses, inevitably leading to booms and busts.

Gold and oil traditionally have had a 15-to-1 relationship, only slipping out of congruence for short periods of time. When the gold/dollar relationship is anchored, the oil/dollar relationship remains stable as well. (See the chart of oil pre 1970 – it barely budged for years at a time.) When the dollar/gold relationship is malfunctioning, as it is now, capital is wasted as producers try to protect themselves from the damaging impact of inflations and deflations, which ultimately weaken the entire pricing system. The upshot is that prices will eventually come down. But in the meantime, we’ll all be getting squeezed at the pumps.

Dr. Jude Wanniski
19 June 2000

Reprint Permission courtesy of http://www.polyconomics.com
*******************************
Jude Wanniski, president of Polyconomics, Inc., Morristown, New Jersey, is one of the leading political economists in the United States. A prolific writer and profound thinker, it was Mr. Wanniski who, as Associate Editor of The Wall Street Journal from 1972 to 1978, repopularized the classical theories of supply-side economics. His book, The Way the World Works, published in 1978 to critical acclaim, and which brings a passion and eloquence to the supply-side model of political economy, became a foundation of the global economic transformation launched by the Administration of President Ronald Reagan.

Gold vs Dollar

2011-06-07T10:28:00.000+08:00

Introduction

Gold has been a poor investment for many years. This is a statement which is almost universally accepted in today's world, but one which is only partially true. The truth is that gold has been a very poor investment when measured in US dollars, but has generally proven to be a sound investment when measured in terms of almost any other national currency. The Indians and the Chinese, the world's largest buyers of gold, have seen the value of their gold investments increase by approximately 200% over the last decade. Due to a collapse in their national currencies, South East Asians and Koreans have also seen the value of owning gold .

The US dollar reached a cyclical low in April 1995, from which it has risen over 50% against the Yen and 30% against the Deutsche Mark . This means that German and Japanese investors who exchanged their national currency for gold in April 95 would now be showing a profit on their investment, despite a 21% decrease in the US dollar gold price over the same period.

What we have witnessed over the past 2.5 years is a massive shift of investment capital into the US dollar from all other currencies, including gold. Investors around the world have placed enormous faith in the US dollar and, therefore, in the US economic, financial and political system which supports the dollar. Gold has been a victim of this flight to the US dollar, although it has fared better than many of the government controlled forms of money.

With the US dollar continuing to strengthen as capital flees from EMU-generated uncertainty in Europe and debt-based currency crises throughout Asia, why should anyone invest in gold ? Why not just invest in US dollars and US dollar denominated assets ? In my opinion, there are only two reasons to invest in gold.

Reason # 1 To Own Gold

Many supporters of gold continue to put forward the argument that Central Banks are controlling the gold price. The reason for the popularity of this argument appears to be the misconception that the demand for gold exceeds the supply of gold. After all, if the demand for something does exceed its supply by a substantial amount and for a long time, and the price goes down, then it is logical to assume that there must be dark forces at work to manufacture this unreal situation. The problem is, whenever you start from an incorrect premise and then develop your arguments based on flawless logic, you must necessarily arrive at the wrong conclusion.

Perhaps it is hard for goldbugs to accept that gold is a genuinely unpopular investment at the moment when compared to the all-conquering US dollar. However, the fact is that net CB sales of gold over the past few years have been small. Gold loans by CBs have probably had some effect, but the over-riding factor is that private investment demand for gold has reached its lowest point since 1971. Until there is an increase in this demand then the above-ground stock of monetary gold, more than 60% of which is held in private hands, will be an available source of supply.

Just as it is wrong to think that the supposed annual deficit in gold supply (the difference between newly mined supply and commercial demand) will lead to a higher gold price, it is equally wrong to think that the above-ground stock held by the CBs is necessarily sufficient to meet demand for many years to come. Trillions of dollars of investment capital is moving around the world each day searching out stability or protection or investment returns.

If confidence in financial assets and government controlled currencies was to significantly reduce, then the total gold reserves of all CBs (worth 320 billion dollars at current gold prices) could be absorbed in an instant by private investors.

Government controlled currencies are liabilities of the monetary agents and are backed by debt. Their value is hence based on the level of confidence in the financial and political systems and their rates of exchange tend to oscillate daily based on changes in this confidence level.

For example, if doubt arises regarding the quality of the debt which provides the asset backing for a currency, then capital will shift from that currency into an alternative investment. Gold, a tangible asset which has been valued as a store of wealth for thousands of years, provides an ideal alternative.

Those who are advocating the CB conspiracy theories are failing to appreciate a very important point : The primary reason to own gold as an investment is because it is not controlled by central banks and governments.

Reason # 2 To Own Gold

The second reason to own gold is a corollary of the first. The debt which forms the asset backing of a national currency can be split into two groups - private debt and government debt. The quality of private debt will reduce if the cashflow of the borrowers is insufficient to meet the repayments and /or the value of the underlying security for the loan (real estate, shares, etc) becomes less than the amount of the loan. This is the situation which Japan has faced since 1990 (lending based on collateral rather than cashflow followed by a substantial reduction in asset values has resulted in huge, non-performing private debts). Large scale defaults on private debts will force asset sales, pushing down asset values even further, and stop new investment . Liquidity will thus be removed from the system and interest rates will fall to a point where investment once again becomes feasible. The process is self correcting unless, of course, the government tries to help.

A different set of rules, however, apply to government debt . These rules can begin to be understood by first reading the following explanation of central bank powers taken from a speech given by Alan Greenspan in January of this year :

"Central banks can issue currency, a non-interest-bearing claim on the government, effectively without limit. They can discount loans and other assets of banks or other private depository institutions, thereby converting potentially illiquid private assets into riskless claims on the government in the form of deposits at the central bank. That all of these claims on government are readily accepted reflects the fact that a government cannot become insolvent with respect to obligations in its own currency."

As Greenspan points out, a government can never run out of its own currency. Therefore, the cashflow of a government will never be insufficient to service its internal debt. It can simply create as much money as it needs through the issue of new debt. It should also be noted that governments never have to concern themselves with the value of the assets used as security against their loans, because there are none. The asset which backs all government debt is the full faith and credit of the government.

A problem for a country occurs when new money is created at a consistently greater rate than the increase in the supply of tangible assets, resulting in rising prices, reduced demand for financial assets, and increasing interest rates. This situation arises as greater and greater levels of debt are needed to sustain a stock market or real estate bubble, or to pay for government/business expansion, or simply to service the repayments on existing debt (both private and government).

Throughout history people have accumulated precious metals to defend their wealth from destruction as every form of paper currency ever created has been devalued through inflation. This is the second reason to own gold :

Gold is the only form of money which has maintained its purchasing power over a long period of time.

US Money Supply Versus The Gold Price
Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, American investors were gripped by a fear that their national currency would continue to lose purchasing power . There was a complete lack of confidence in the government's ability to restrict the expansion of the money supply, culminating in panic buying of precious metals in 1979/1980 as investors desperately sought to protect themselves from the effects of inflation.

The response of the US Federal Reserve at the time was to put the brakes on money supply growth through the instigation of extremely high interest rates. This policy achieved its purpose and by 1982 the rate of increase in the money supply was trending downwards, interest rates had fallen from their peaks, and the fear of inflation had abated. Investment capital had responded to the changed situation by moving from commodities into financial assets, and the great equities bull market had begun.

Below is a chart showing the relationship between the total US money supply (M3), M3 growth rates (shown as annualised monthly figures), and the gold price, from 1972 to present time. It can be seen from this chart that the gold price tracked the increase in money supply from 1972 until 1982, apart from the 1979/1980 spike. Between 1982 and the early 1990s the M3 growth rate trended downwards to a low point of zero in 1992. During this period money flowed into financial assets as confidence was restored in the ability of the Fed to control inflation, whilst the gold price remained relatively stable (apart from the 1985 to 1987 period when the G5 tried to "fix" the US trade deficit by engineering a 40% depreciation in the US dollar, which in turn led to a rising gold price and culminated in the 1987 share market crash as foreign capital panicked out of US assets) .

Since 1993, the M3 growth rate has been trending upwards and is currently around 9%. Studies have shown that increasing money supply growth rates lead the commodities markets by 1.5 to 3 years. This means that we should have seen a rising gold price in US dollars by 1995/1996. What we have actually witnessed, however, is a declining gold price. In fact, with money supply now increasing at rates not seen since the early 1980s and the gold price falling almost continuously since February 1996, the chart shows a distinct divergence between the two . This has contributed to the currently popular belief that increasing the quantity of money no longer results in rising prices.

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, gold has performed quite well during recent years when measured in terms of almost any currency with the exception of the US dollar. In other words, gold has performed its historical function as a store of value for anyone living outside the US. However, since 1995, the time at which we would have expected to see the increasing supply of US dollars begin to have an impact on the gold price, a massive shift of investment into the US dollar has occurred. The excess dollars which have been created due to expanding US debt levels and trade deficits have been absorbed by foreign investors looking for stability. The seemingly insatiable demand of foreign capital for US dollars has been stimulated even further by the Asian financial crisis. The US is now seen as the only safe place in the world for investment.

The demand of foreign capital for US dollars and US debt has allowed US interest rates to remain at relatively low levels, given the money supply growth rate and the strength of the economy, and has supported a speculative boom in the US stock market since 1995. The US stock market is itself supported by debt, and that debt is in turn supported by the value of the stock market. A significant downturn in the stock market would most likely lead to widespread defaults on loans, a financial collapse and a severe recession.

This situation will be avoided at all costs by the US political and monetary authorities using the power of the US Federal Reserve to "…discount loans and other assets of banks or other private depository institutions, thereby converting potentially illiquid private assets into riskless claims on the government in the form of deposits at the central bank." If the Fed must purchase every non-performing loan in the US in order to avoid a serious recession, it will be done. A boom feeds on itself and is always propelled by liquidity. Once a speculative boom has occurred, liquidity must be maintained in order to avoid a bust. Look for continued high levels of US money supply growth.
Conclusion
The entire US financial system is based on confidence - the confidence of foreign investors who continue to pour money into US dollar assets, and the confidence of local investors who are betting their life savings on a continued stock market boom. Recent experience in Asia suggests that this extraordinarily high level of confidence in financial assets may be overdone.

In the near term, the above-ground stock of gold will most likely continue to be a hindrance to any sustainable rally in the gold price. The supply of gold will probably increase over the coming months as European CBs sell gold in the lead up to selection of the initial EMU participants in May 1998. At the same time, uncertainty regarding EMU and on-going problems in Asia should continue to support the US dollar.

However, it must be remembered that there are 3.8 billion ounces of gold in the world and the supply is increasing by 1.75% each year (probably less for the next few years due to mine closures), whereas there are 5,300 billion US dollars in the world and the supply is increasing by 9% each year. The end result is obvious.

Gold Mining in Malaysia

2011-06-06T10:19:00.000+08:00

The total amount of raw gold produced in 2003 was about 4,739 kilograms.

Gold mining was carried out in the states of Pahang (5), Kelantan (2) and Terengganu (1).

Pahang produced 99% of the country’s total raw gold production. A total of 836 workers were employed in these mines at the end of the year.

Sejarah Emas Dunia

2011-06-02T10:17:00.000+08:00

Komoditi emas mula didagangkan di Spot Market bermula pada tahun 1992, ianya bermula dengan harga serendah $345.63 per oz bersamaan RM 38.50 segram (mengambil kira $1 = RM 3.50), kemudian pada tahun 1996, di sebabkan kemelesetan ekonomi dunia harga emas telah menurun kepada paras terendah untuk selama2nye iaitu pada harga $249.42 per oz. Disebabkan krisis kemelesetan yang begitu hebat pada waktu itu, ekonomi dunia dan komoditi emas mengambil masa selama hampir 5 tahun untuk proses "Recovery" atau baik pulih semula iaitu sehingga pada tahun 2001.

Sejak dari itu harga emas di pasaran dunia terus-menerus meningkat saban tahun sehinggalah pada tahun 2007, sekali lagi krisis ekonomi berlaku di sebabkan "Sub-Prime Crisis" atau krisis sub-prima sekaligus menyebabkan harga emas menurun daripada $963.69 kepada $724.63. Namun, berpandukan kisah hitam 10 tahun yang lalu, beberapa langkah drastik telah diambil oleh A.S untuk memperbaiki krisis itu, dan dalam hanya beberapa bulan sahaja harga emas telah kembali meningkat kepada $981.18 per oz. Bertitik tolak dari krisis dunia kali ke-2 ini, masyarakat telah mula sedar bahawa punca kepada semua krisis ekonomi dunia ialah disebabkan pengamalan sistem ekonomi kapitalis yang menyebabkan berlakunya Inflasi (kejatuhan nilai wang) dari tahun ke tahun di seluruh dunia.

Kesinambungan itu, ramai masyarakat telah mula menyimpan kekayaan di dalam bentuk emas fizikal berbanding wang ringgit, yang mana ianya memegang nilainya sendiri dan tidak seperti wang kertas yang mana nilainya perlu bersandarkan dengan rizab simpanan emas di sesebuah negara itu. Sejak itu harga emas terus meningkat saban tahun iaitu dari $981.18 per oz, kini telah mencapai paras tertinggi dalam sejarah harga emas dunia iaitu melebihi $1500.00 per oz!! Lihat, betapa tingginya permintaan terhadap besi kuning ini sedangkan penawarannya amat terhad dan ianya adalah semulajadi.

Justeru, marilah sama-sama kita menyimpan kekayaan dalam bentuk emas, agar wang yang disimpan tidak susut nilainya di telan Inflasi.

Feng Shui Stock 2011

2011-06-01T09:35:00.001+08:00

Untuk dikongsi bersama, just for the fun of it...

Harga Emas 1 Tahun

2011-05-31T06:11:00.000+08:00

Harga Emas 6 Bulan

2011-05-30T06:10:00.000+08:00

Harga Emas 10 Tahun

2011-05-26T06:14:00.000+08:00

Harga Emas 5 Tahun

2011-05-25T06:12:00.000+08:00

History of Gold Coins

2011-05-24T11:20:00.000+08:00

Gold Coins
Four millennia of gold coin production and use - a brief history.

Reverse of Celtic Gold Stater of Cunobelin

The First Gold Coins

Lydia 643 BC
In about 643 to 630 B.C., the Lydians had started to produce the first coins. They were quite crude, and were made of electrum, a naturally occurring pale yellow mixture of gold and silver. These first coins were similar in composition to alluvial deposits found in the silt of the River Pactolus, which ran through the Lydian capital, Sardis.

Obverse of Celtic Gold Stater of Cunobelin

The Midas Touch
These gold deposits were believed to have originated by King Midas washing himself in the river to cleanse himself of his "golden touch" which had the inconvenient effect of turning even his food into gold.

Gold And Silver
By about 560 B.C., the Lydians and Ionians had learned how to separate the gold from the silver, so that King Croesus was able to issue the world's first bi-metallic coinage. Bi-metallic in the sense that there were gold coins and silver coins. Shortly afterwards, in 546 B.C., Croeseus was captured by the Persians, who came to adopt gold as the main metal for their coins.

Gold Or Silver?
The Greeks to the west of Ionia believed that silver should be the main metal used for coins. Following this there have, for most of history, been regions which favoured silver and other nations which favoured gold as their main coinage and currency metal. Where the two existed side by side, then gold was usually considered the more important. In most cases, ready availability of one metal rather than the other exerted a practical influence over the choice.

The Celts
In Britain and elsewhere, a number of Celtic tribes issues coins in gold, silver, potin, and base metals. The Celts were here before the Romans, some became assimilated into Roman civilisation, others moved or were defeated. It is often stated that they left no written records, but this is inaccurate as some of their coins were inscribed. Please see the magnificent Celtic gold stater in our photograph. It bears the inscription "CUNO" an abbreviation for Cunobelin, a chieftain of the Catuvellauni tribe. It constitutes a written record, as do all the other inscribed Celtic coins, however most Celtic coins are unfortunately uninscribed. They also clearly show that the Celts used written language, even if other evidence is not extant.
We feel tempted to add the joke that Cunobelin invented his own language which was named after him, although we cannot remember the name of the language, it is on the tip of our tongue!

The Romans
The early Roman Republic issued few coins in gold, their main coinage being in silver, with bronze or copper for small change. From the death of Julius Caesar, gold coinage came to be an important part of the Roman coinage system. The Romans took a very practical view in exploiting natural resources in the areas of their conquest, and issued coins in gold, silver, and copper according to the resources of the region.

The First Sovereign

The First One Pound Coin
The gold sovereign came into existence in 1489 under King Henry VII.

The Pound Sterling
The pound sterling had been a unit of account for centuries, as had the mark. Now for the first time a coin denomination was issued with a value of one pound sterling. This new coin weighed 240 grains which equals 0.5 troy ounces or 15.55 grams, and was made using the standard gold coinage alloy of 23 carat, equal to 95.83% fine.

The First Design
The obverse design showed the King seated facing on a throne, a very majestic image. It is from this image of the monarch or sovereign that the new coin gained its name - the sovereign. The reverse type is a shield bearing the royal arms, on a large double Tudor rose.
One of the reasons for the issue of the sovereign was to imitate similar large gold coins being produced on the Continent, another was to impress Europe with the power, prestige and success of the new Tudor dynasty.

Leading Designer of the Age
For the introduction of this important new coin, and later the shilling, the leading German engraver Alexander of Bruchsal was commissioned.
The new sovereign has been described as "the best piece ever produced from the English mint".
Alexander came to be described as "the father of English coin portraiture".
He also produced the testoon or shilling of which it has been said that "modern coinage begins with the shilling of Henry VII".

Doubles and Trebles
A double or treble sovereign was also issued for Henry VII from the same dies as the sovereign, but thicker and heavier. These were possibly intended solely as presentation pieces.
This first sovereign occurs with a number of minor type variations all of which are rare, currently cataloguing from £7000 upwards.

Henry VIII And The First Half Sovereign
Sovereigns were then struck for Henry VIII from 1509, and a half sovereign was also introduced during his reign.
In 1526 the official value of English gold coins was raised by 10%, making a sovereign worth 22 shillings (22/- or 22s.), and then shortly after they were again revalued to 22s6d. A number of new gold coin denominations were introduced with a lower gold fineness of "only" 22 carat, equal to 91.66%.
In 1544 a lighter sovereign was issued, weighing 200 grains, but still in 23 carat gold alloy.

Edward VI
Under Edward VI, sovereigns, half sovereigns, and double sovereigns were struck. His first sovereigns, issued between January 1549 and April 1550, were only in 22 carat gold. From 1550 to 1553, "fine" sovereigns were once again issued with a value of thirty shillings, and also a "standard" sovereign at twenty shillings.

Mary
During the sole reign of Mary, "fine" sovereigns were struck with a value of thirty shillings (30/- or 30s.), but during her slightly longer joint reign with Philip, no sovereigns were issued.

Elizabeth I
During the long reign of Elizabeth II, "fine" gold sovereigns, with a very high (99.4%) gold content, continued to be issued with a value of thirty shillings. A separate one pound gold coin was also issued, obviously with a value of twenty shillings.

James I - The Unite Appears
In the first coinage of James I, from 1603 to 1604, sovereigns of twenty shillings were issued before being discontinued, the previous pound coin was made lighter and renamed as a "unite". So after 115 years, this was the last sovereign to be issued until the emergence of the modern gold sovereign in 1817.

Unites Laurels and Guineas

The Unite Replaces The Sovereign
From James I's second coinage in 1604, the sovereign was discontinued in favour of the "unite", also valued at one pound. It was called a unite to mark the unification of England and Scotland upon the accession of James VI of Scotland to the British throne, as James I of England.

The Laurel Comes and Goes
In 1612 the unite was revalued at 22 shillings, and in 1619 was replace by a lighter one pound coin known as the laurel. The laurel weighed 140.5 grains.

The Unite Continues
The unite was continued in the reign of Charles I, being again valued at twenty shillings, and continued in production during "The Commonwealth", and the early hammered coinage of Charles II until 1662.

Machine Made Guineas Arrive
With the introduction of regular machine made "milled" coinage under Charles II, the guinea was introduced in 1668. It was so called because the gold from which many were made was imported from the African state of Guinea by the Africa Company. The badge of logo of The Africa Company was an elephant and castle (howdah), and this symbol, or sometimes just the elephant appeared on many of the guineas.

When a Guinea was a Pound
When the guinea was originally introduced it had a value of twenty shillings, Because of the inflationary effects of war, the value of the guinea soon increased to 21 shillings. By March 1694, it had reached 22 shillings, and in June 1695 reached a peak of thirty shillings. At this crisis point, there followed great public debate, which included figures such as Sir Isaac Newton, as to whether the solution was to devalue the gold coinage or to restore the silver coinage. Restoration won, and 1696 saw a great "Silver Recoinage", at the same time the principle was established that the pound sterling would be a fixed weight of gold, and this principle effectively created the "gold standard". The guinea continued to be the main gold coin until 1813 under George III.

The Modern Sovereign

New Coinage - New Mint
In 1816, there was a major change in the British coinage, powered by the Industrial Revolution. The Royal Mint moved from The Tower of London to new premises on nearby Tower Hill, and acquired powerful new steam powered coining presses designed by Matthew Boulton and James Watt. the modern sovereign was born!

Saint George & The Dragon
A new reverse design was introduced featuring Saint George slaying a dragon, designed by a brilliant young Italian engraver, Benedetto Pistrucci. This beautiful classic design remains on our gold sovereigns today, almost two hundred years later, and for most of its life must have been one of the worlds most widely recognised coins.

Gold Gives Way To Paper

The First British Paper Money
Although the first "banknote", actually a goldsmith's note, known to exist was issued by Laurence Hoare in 1633, and the earliest known cheque was issued in 1659. Paper money did not supersede metal until the second decade of the 20th century.

Royal Mint Stops Gold Sovereign Production
During the first world war, Britain needed gold bullion to finance the war effort. Banknotes were introduced into regular circulation, and within a few years, the gold sovereign ceased to be used in everyday transactions. Production at the Royal Mint stopped in 1917, although some were minted again in 1925.

Commonwealth Mints
The branch mints continued to produce sovereigns, Ottawa in Canada until 1919, Bombay in India in 1918, Sydney Australia until 1926, Melbourne and Perth Australia until 1931, and Pretoria South Africa until 1932.

1933 - The End of The World for Gold Coinage
By 1933, almost the whole world had stopped production of gold coins for circulation. We can find only seven countries which issued gold coins in 1933, and most of those were commemorative, historical, or medallic issues, not intended primarily for circulation. Of these, the lowest listed catalogue value is for Czechoslovakian One Dukat pieces, which contain about one ninth of an ounce of fine gold; their catalogue value is about three times their intrinsic gold value, and we very seldom see gold coins of this date.
There are a number of other similar dates during which there were very few gold coins minted.

The Investment Market
A number of countries continued to issue gold coins for purchase by investors in the period from the end of the first world war. This has usually been to supply domestic demand for citizens to maintain a "hedge" against currency fluctuations or failures, and against political upheaval. Central and National Banks will have kept many of the previously circulating gold coins as part of their gold bullion holdings, many will have been melted down, and others will have been re-issued to meet demand.

Premium Prices
Increasingly from about 1914, gold coins were traded at a premium to their gold content, especially as most countries did not regularly issue any new gold coins. Certain gold coins have been internationally recognised, these include the British gold sovereign, the American double eagle, and the Swiss twenty francs. Many other types of gold coins had a popularity within their more immediate neighbouring countries, with linguistics also playing their part in the supply - demand situation. There is an obvious logic and attraction in using gold coins whose inscriptions the owner could easily read.

Low Premiums & International Bullion Coins
With the introduction of the Krugerrand in 1967, South Africa became the first country to issue a modern, low premium, bullion gold coin. The most obvious attribute of the Krugerrand which clearly contributed to its success, was its convenient and easy to remember gold content - exactly one ounce. Almost all previous gold coins contained odd amounts of gold, which makes it more difficult to know or calculate quickly the precise value of ones investment.
Such was the success of the Krugerrand, or Kruger, as it is familiarly known, that many millions were produced. In 1980, South Africa introduced fractional sizes containing a half ounce, quarter ounce, and tenth ounce of fine gold. Numerous other countries also copied the South Africans and produced their own versions of one ounce gold bullion coins, and usually the fractional sizes also.

Special Occasions
In Britain, no further sovereigns were then issued until 1957, although sovereigns were included in the George VI proof set of 1937 which was available for collectors, and sovereigns were also minted but not issued for Edward VIII in 1937, and for Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.
Many countries now issue gold coins to commemorate special occasions, and for sale to collectors. Although the one ounce bullion coins were intended for investment use, there are many who collect them by date and type, some world mints have recognised this, and produce attractive and varied designs in their bullion coin series, together with proof versions. A well designed coin can rightly be considered as a miniature work of sculptural or medallic art.

Gold as Money

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Gold, measured out, became money. Gold's beauty, scarcity, unique density (no other metal outside the platinum group is as heavy), and the ease by which it could be melted, formed, and measured made it a natural trading medium. Gold gave rise to the concept of money itself: portable, private, and permanent. Gold (and silver) in standardized coins came to replace barter arrangements, and made trade in the Classic period much easier.

Gold was money in ancient Greece. The Greeks mined for gold throughout the Mediterranean and Middle East regions by 550 B.C., and both Plato and Aristotle wrote about gold and had theories about its origins. Gold was associated with water (logical, since most of it was found in streams), and it was supposed that gold was a particularly dense combination of water and sunlight.

Their science may have been primitive, but the Greeks learned much about the practicalities of gold mining. By the time of the death of Alexander of Macedon (323 B.C.), the Greeks had mined gold from the Pillars of Hercules (Gibraltar) all the way eastward to Asia Minor and Egypt, and we find traces of their placer mines today. Some of the mines were owned by the state, some were worked privately with a royalty paid to the state. Also, nomads such as the Scythians and Cimmerians worked placer mines all over the region. The surviving Greek gold coinage and Scythian jewelry both show superb artistry.

The Roman Empire furthered the quest for gold. The Romans mined gold extensively throughout their empire, and advanced the science of gold-mining considerably. They diverted streams of water to mine hydraulically, and built sluices and the first 'long toms.' They mined underground, also, and introduced water-wheels and the 'roasting' of gold-bearing ores to separate the gold from rock. They were able to more efficiently exploit old mine-sites, and of course their chief laborers were prisoners of war, slaves, and convicts.

A monetary standard made the world economy possible. The concept of money, (i.e., gold and silver in standard weight and fineness coins) allowed the World's economies to expand and prosper. During the Classic period of Greek and Roman rule in the western world, gold and silver both flowed to India for spices, and to China for silk. At the height of the Empire (A.D. 98-160), Roman gold and silver coins reigned from Britain to North Africa and Egypt.
Money had been invented. Its name was gold.

History of Gold Standard

2011-05-19T06:19:00.000+08:00

In the mid-1800's, countries began adopting the gold standard as a way to standardize transactions in a blossoming world trade market. By World War I, most countries were on the gold standard, with mixed results. Between 1914-1919, most countries suspended the gold standard so they could print enough money to pay for their involvement in the war. After the war, countries returned to a modified gold standard, but abandoned it during the Great Depression. (History.com, "Gold Standard")

In 1941, most countries adopted the Bretton-Woods system, which set the exchange value for all currencies in terms of gold. It obligated member countries to convert foreign official holdings of their currencies into gold at these par values. However, many countries simply pegged the value of their currency to the dollar, thus making the dollar the defacto world currency. Gold was set at $35 per ounce. (Source: National Mining Association, History of Gold)

The strong dollar led to inflation and a large balance of payments deficit in the U.S. which in turn helped to create stagflation. The U.S. started to deflate the dollar in terms of its value in gold to curb double digit inflation.

In 1971, gold was repriced to $38 per ounce, then again to $42 per ounce in 1973. As the dollar devalued, it motivated people to sell their greenbacks for gold. Finally, in late 1973, the U.S. government decoupled the value of the dollar from gold altogether. The price of gold quickly shot up to $120 per ounce in the free market.

World Gold Demand

2011-05-18T06:10:00.000+08:00

Four Major Sources of Demand for GOLD:

1) Jewelry fabrication

2) Industrial applications

3) Governments and central banks

4) Private investors

1) Jewelry fabrication: The largest source of demand is the jewelry industry. In recent years, demand from the jewelry industry alone has exceeded Western mine production. This shortfall has been bridged by supplies from reclaimed jewelry and other industrial scrap, as well as the release of official sector reserves. Gold's workability, unique beauty, and universal appeal make this rare precious metal the favorite of jewelers all over the world.

2) Industrial applications: Besides jewelry, gold has many applications in a variety of industries including aerospace, medicine, electronics and dentistry. The electronics industry needs gold for the manufacture of computers, telephones, televisions, and other equipment. Gold's unique properties provide superior electrical conducting qualities and corrosion resistance, which are required in the manufacture of sophisticated electronic circuitry. In dentistry, gold alloys are popular because they are highly resistant to corrosion and tarnish. For this reason gold alloys are used for crowns, bridges, gold inlays, and partial dentures.

3) Governments and central banks: The third source of gold demand is governments and central banks that buy gold to increase their official reserves.

4) Private investors: Finally, there are private investors. Depending upon market circumstances, the investment component of demand can vary substantially from year to year.

Uses of Gold

2011-05-17T06:08:00.000+08:00

Gold's Usefulness as safe haven:
The geo-political and world economic structure is currently undergoing major change-some have even called the situation an "upheaval." This means that the investment outlook, particularly for certain parts of the world, is more unpredictable than usual. Under these circumstances, it is logical to conclude that certain investment portfolios should include real (non-paper) assets such as commodities for protection against a potential decline in the paper markets.

Gold's Usefulness as an Asset Diversifier:
Most portfolios are invested primarily in traditional financial assets such as stocks, bonds and mutual funds. Adding gold to a portfolio introduces an entirely different asset; a tangible or real asset, thus increasing the portfolio's degree of diversification. The purpose of diversification is to protect the total portfolio against fluctuations in the value of any one asset or type of asset. Gold does exactly that.

The reason is basic:
The economic forces which determine the price of gold are different from, and in many cases opposed to, the forces which determine the prices of most financial assets. The price of an equity depends on the earnings and growth potential of the company it represents. Likewise, the price of a bond depends on its safety, its yield, and the yields of competing fixed income investments.

The price of gold, on the other hand, depends on different factors:
Worldwide physical supply and demand for gold, movements in foreign exchange rates, inflation, interest rates and political turmoil. The effects of all these factors are somewhat complex and variable. But the important point to remember is simply that they cause the price of gold to move independently of the prices of financial assets.

Ancient Gold

2011-05-16T06:04:00.000+08:00

The Incas referred to gold as the "tears of the Sun."

Homer,in the "Iliad" and "Odyssey," makes mention of gold as the glory of the immortals and a sign of wealth among ordinary humans. In Genesis 2:10-12, we learn of the river Pison out of Eden, and "the land of Havilah, where there is gold: and the gold of that land is good?"

As far back as 3100 B.C., we have evidence of a gold/silver value ratio in the code of Menes, the founder of the first Egyptian dynasty. In this code it is stated that "one part of gold is equal to two and one half parts of silver in value." This is our earliest of a value relationship between gold and silver.

In ancient Egypt, around the time of Seti I (1320 B.C.), we find the creation of the first gold treasure map now known to us. Today, in the Turin Museum is a papyrus and fragments known as the "Carte des mines d'or." It pictures gold mines, miners' quarters, road leading to the mines and gold-bearing mountains, and so on.

Where is that gold mine located? Well, you know how it is with treasure maps - there's always something a little vague about them, to throw you off the trail.

Modern thought is that it portrays the Wadi Fawakhir region in which the El Sid gold mine is located, but the matter is far from settled. Jason and the Argonauts sought the Golden Fleece around 1200 B.C.

That Greek myth makes more sense when you realize that the fleece that it refers to is the sheep's fleece used in the recovery of fine placer gold.

Early miners would use water power to propel gold-bearing sand over the hide of a sheep, which would trap the tiny, but heavy, flakes of gold. When the fleece had absorbed all it could hold, this 'golden fleece' was hung up to dry, and when dry would be beaten gently so that the gold would fall off and be recovered.

This primitive form of hydraulic mining began thousands of years ago, and was still being used by some miners as recently as the California gold rush of 1849.

The first use of gold as money occurred around 700 B.C., when Lydian merchants produced the first coins. These were simply stamped lumps of a 63% gold and 27% silver mixture known as 'electrum.' This standardized unit of value no doubt helped Lydian traders in their wide-ranging successes, for by the time of Croesus of Mermnadae, the last King of Lydia (570 -546 B.C.), Lydia had amassed a huge hoard of gold. Today, we still speak of the ultra-wealthy as being 'rich as Croesus.'

A Brief History of Gold

2011-05-12T06:01:00.000+08:00

A child finds a shiny rock in a creek, thousands of years ago, and the human race is introduced to gold for the first time.

Gold was first discovered as shining, yellow nuggets. "Gold is where you find it," so the saying goes, and gold was first discovered in its natural state, in streams all over the world. No doubt it was the first metal known to early hominids.

Gold became a part of every human culture. Its brilliance, natural beauty, and luster, and its great malleability and resistance to tarnish made it enjoyable to work and play with.

Because gold is dispersed widely throughout the geologic world, its discovery occurred to many different groups in many different locales. And nearly everyone who found it was impressed with it, and so was the developing culture in which they lived.

Gold was the first metal widely known to our species. When thinking about the historical progress of technology, we consider the development of iron and copper-working as the greatest contributions to our species' economic and cultural progress - but gold came first.

Gold is the easiest of the metals to work. It occurs in a virtually pure and workable state, whereas most other metals tend to be found in ore-bodies that pose some difficulty in smelting. Gold's early uses were no doubt ornamental, and its brilliance and permanence (it neither corrodes nor tarnishes) linked it to deities and royalty in early civilizations .

Gold has always been powerful stuff. The earliest history of human interaction with gold is long lost to us, but its association with the gods, with immortality, and with wealth itself are common to many cultures throughout the world.

Early civilizations equated gold with gods and rulers, and gold was sought in their name and dedicated to their glorification. Humans almost intuitively place a high value on gold, equating it with power, beauty, and the cultural elite. And since gold is widely distributed all over the globe, we find this same thinking about gold throughout ancient and modern civilizations everywhere.

Gold, beauty, and power have always gone together. Gold in ancient times was made into shrines and idols ("the Golden Calf"), plates, cups, vases and vessels of all kinds, and of course, jewelry for personal adornment.

The "Gold of Troy" treasure hoard, excavated in Turkey and dating to the era 2450 -2600 B.C., show the range of gold-work from delicate jewelry to a gold gravy boat weighing a full troy pound. This was a time when gold was highly valued, but had not yet become money itself. Rather, it was owned by the powerful and well-connected, or made into objects of worship, or used to decorate sacred locations.

Gold has always had value to humans, even before it was money. This is demonstrated by the extraordinary efforts made to obtain it. Prospecting for gold was a worldwide effort going back thousands of years, even before the first money in the form of gold coins appeared about 700 B.C.

In the quest for gold by the Phoenicians, Egyptians, Indians, Hittites, Chinese, and others, prisoners of war were sent to work the mines, as were slaves and criminals. And this happened during a time when gold had no value as 'money,' but was just considered a desirable commodity in and of itself.

The 'value' of gold was accepted all over the world. Today, as in ancient times, the intrinsic appeal of gold itself has that universal appeal to humans. But how did gold come to be a commodity, a measurable unit of value?

Jenis emas, kualiti dan karat

2011-05-11T09:58:00.000+08:00

Apa maksud 24K, Karat, dan 22K. Adakah 22K adalah 916. Baik saya mulakan dengan terangkan sedikit berkenaan karat.
Perkataan karat diambil dari perkataan Latin iaitu kerátion, atau dari perkataan Arab dan juga dari perkataan Itali carato, yang bermaksud Biji Kacang Carob, Pada waktu dulu sebelum timbangan gram, oz atau mana-mana berat standard digunakan, orang-orang tua kita menggunakan biji kacang carob (dikhabarkan setiap bijinya adalah sama walau dimana ia tumbuh) sebagai timbangan berat. Mengikut persamaan , 1 karat adalah bersamaan dengan 24 (berat emas)/(berat total item).

Contoh Kacang Carob, saya tak jumpa nama melayu untuk kacang ini, mungkin sebab tidak tumbuh di negara kita.

Jika mengikut pengiraan standard, emas 24K adalah emas paling tulen dengan peratus ketulenan emas 99.99%, iaitu logam emas tanpa campuran logam lain. Oleh kerana sifat emas yang lembut dan mudah ditempa, ia biasanya dicampurkan dengan logam lain biasanya Silver (perak) untuk menjadikan ia lebih keras dan dapat dibuat bentuk seperti cincin, rantai dan gelang dengan corak yang menarik

Tahukah anda, 1gms emas dapat ditempa menghasilkan sekeping logam dengan panjang dan sisi 1 meter persegi

Selain emas 24karat, kualiti emas lain yang biasa digunakan adalah 22K, 18K dan 14K, berikut adalah jadual kualiti emas mengikut ketulenannya.

24 carat (99.9% ketulenan atau lebih tinggi) (emas sepuluh)
22 carat (emas 916, 91.6%)
21 carat (87.5%)
20 carat (83.3%)
18 carat ( 75.0% emas) emas yang mempunyai batu. (cincin tunang, cincin perkahwinan)
14 carat ( 58.5%) emas campur , biasa digunakan orang-orang tua kita dulu kala
10 carat ( 41.7%)
9 carat (37.5%) emas suasa, biasanya dijadikan cincin lelaki.

Setiap kualiti emas mempunyai sedikit perbezaan kaler, kekerasan dan sifat fizikalnya, emas campur nampak lebih merah berbanding warna emas biasa dan begitulah untuk kualiti-kualiti emas yang lain bergantung kepada logam kedua yang dicampurkan bersama emas untuk menghasilkan barang perhiasan tersebut.

Tahukah anda, warna emas bukannya kuning semata-mata, ia boleh juga dihasilkan menjadi merah, kuning, hijau bergantung kepada logam kedua yang ditambah (Argentum, Manganese, Copper etc)

loket emas dengan kaler hijau dan merah (sumber blackhill)

contoh cincin emas berkaler hijau dan merah

Tetapi trend emas dengan pelbagai kaler seperti diatas tidak begitu popular di negara kita, mungkin kalernya tidak menarik atau harganya yang lebih mahal(pada pendapat saya) berbeza dengan kaler emas tulen yang bersilau-silau jika digilap dan mudah dijual beli di pasaran tempatan.

Ok, seterusnya, apakah emas 22k adalah emas 916? jawapannya ya, emas 22k adalah emas 916. Emas 22K sangat popular di India. Ia digunakan sebagai Dowry perkahwinan, (Lazimnya dalam majlis perkahwinan mereka, keluarga mempelai wanita akan menyediakan beberapa gram emas (100 – 400gms, untuk dibawa bersama mempelai wanita kerumah pengantin lelaki) bagaimanapun tradisi ini hampir tidak diamalkan lagi kecuali di beberapa tempat.

Di Malaysia, emas 22k kebiasaannya tidak dicop 22k, ia biasanya dicop emas 916, disini timbul kekeliruan dan sedikit masalah. Pembeli emas lazimnya tidak akan membeli emas bertanda 22k dengan harga emas 916 kerana pertama, 22K bukan penggunaan standard di Malaysia, kedua, emas yang dicop 22K mungkin dihasilkan di India dan ia tidak disahkan ketulenannya di Malaysia, pelebur sendiri tidak akan mengambil emas 22K pada harga emas 916, sebab itu emas 22K lazimnya dibeli pada harga emas 90 atau emas 835, bergantung kepada keputusan ujian ketulenan asid.

Servis peti simpanan deposit emas Malaysia

2011-05-10T09:45:00.001+08:00

Menyimpan emas di rumah adalah sangat tidak selamat, jadi pelabur emas dinasihatkan untuk menyimpan emas pelaburan mereka di peti simpanan(safety box) di bank yang menyediakan servis ini. Servis ini tidaklah begitu mahal, jangkaan dalam harga RM70-140/setahun bergantung kepada saiz dan kadar harga semasa.Kami menyenaraikan beberapa tempat untuk anda hubungi bagi menyimpan emas, barang kemas dan barang berharga kepunyaan anda. untuk maklumat lanjut dan harga, boleh hubungi number cawangan tertera di bawah.

EON Bank
HEAD OFFICE
21st Floor, Menara EON Bank,
288, Jalan Raja Laut
50350 Kuala Lumpur
Telephone : 03-2691 0200 (10 Lines)
Facsimile : 03-2698 5388/2692 7488

EON Bank – Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur
150, Jalan Tun Sambanthan
50470 Kuala Lumpur
Telephone : 03-2274 7100
Facsimile : 03-2274 9568

EON Bank – Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock
No. 9, Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock 50000 Kuala Lumpur
Telephone : 03-2032 4700
Facsimile : 03-2031 9537

PULAU PINANG
9th Floor, Wing B, Northam Tower
No. 57, Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah
10050 Pulau Pinang
Peti Surat 789, 10800 Pulau Pinang
Telephone : 04-2283 021
Facsimile : 04-2288 192

EON Bank – Pulau Pinang 2
Ground Floor, Bangunan FOP
123, Jalan Anson
10400 Pulau Pinang
Pulau Pinang
Telephone : 04-226 4177
Facsimile : 04-226 3946

EON Bank – Bukit Mertajam
No. 31, 33, 35 & 37, Jalan Usahaniaga 1
Taman Niaga Jaya
14000 Bukit Mertajam
Pulau Pinang
Telephone : 04-538 1549
Facsimile : 04-539 8466

Maybank
Johor
Johor Bahru
Lot 1-22, Level 1, 2 & 3,
Johor Bahru City Centre,
106-108, Jalan Wong Ah Fook,
80000 Johor Bahru,
Johor
07-228 2400/2401/2402

Kuala Lumpur
Bangsar Baru
66, 68 & 70, Jalan Maarof,
Bangsar Baru, 59100
Kuala Lumpur
03-2284 6379, 03-2284 6377

KL Main
1st Floor, Menara Maybank,
100, Jalan Tun Perak, 50050
Kuala Lumpur
03-2074 8042, 03-2074 7452, 03-2074 7052

Taman Tun Dr. Ismail
2, Lorong Rahim Kajai 14,
Taman Tun Dr. Ismail, 60000
Kuala Lumpur
03-7729 3671, 03-7729 3051

Negeri Sembilan
Kuala Klawang
121, Jalan Keyser,
Wisma UMNO,
Jalan Dato’ Moyang Salleh,
71600 Kuala Klawang
Negeri Sembilan
06-613 6344

Penang
Komtar
1, Arked Ria Satu,
KOMTAR, 10000 Penang
Pulau Pinang
04-262 0722, 04-262 0723

Perak
Ipoh Main
Bangunan Mayban Trust,
28, Jalan Tun Sambanthan,
30000 Ipoh,
P.O. Box 450,
30912 Ipoh
Perak
05-241 4501, 05-241 2893

Lumut
10, Jalan Sultan Idris Shah,
32200 Lumut
Perak
05-683 5731, 05-683 5875

Perlis
Kangar
Upper Ground Floor,
Menara KWSP,
Jalan Bukit Lagi,
01000 Kangar,
Perlis
04-976 4846, 04-976 3419

My Safe Deposit Box
Address:
No.25, SR 1/9, Tmn Serdang Raya, 43300 Seri Kembangan, Selangor.
Contact Number:
03-8941 3228 / 016-2166 352 / 016-2166 353

OCBC Bank
Contact Number: 1-300-88-5000, 1-300-88-0310
Northern Region
Alor Setar
380 Jalan Raja
05000 Alor Setar

Penang
36 Lebuh Pantai
10300 Pulau Pinang
Bukit Mertajam
476 Jalan Arumugam Pillai
14000 Bukit Mertajam

Seberang Perai
Pulau Pinang
Ipoh Main
2 Jalan Dato Maharaja Lela
30000 Ipoh

Perak Darul Ridzuan
Teluk Intan
1054 Jalan Mahkota
36000 Teluk Intan
Perak Darul Ridzuan

Taiping
24-30 Jalan Berek
34000 Taiping
Perak Darul Ridzuan

Central Region

KL Main
Ground Floor Menara OCBC
18 Jalan Tun Perak
50050 Kuala Lumpur

Ampang
Menara Great Eastern
303 Jalan Ampang
50450 Kuala Lumpur

Klang
19 Jalan Stesen
41000 Klang

Selangor Darul Ehsan

Subang Jaya
1A-A-4A-A
Jalan USJ 10/1A
Pusat Perniagaan USJ 10
47610 UEP Subang Jaya
Selangor Darul Ehsan

Petaling Jaya
80, 91 & 93 Jalan SS 21/60
Damansara Utama
47400 Petaling Jaya

Southern Region
Seremban
63-65 Jalan Dato Bandar Tunggal
70000 Seremban
Negeri Sembilan Darul Khusus

Melaka
Lot FG-001, Ground Floor
Dataran Pahlawan Melaka Megamall
Jalan Merdeka 75000
Bandar Hilir Melaka

Johor Bahru
1 Jalan Ibrahim
80000 Johor Bahru
Johor Darul Takzim

Muar
26 Jalan Maharani
84000 Muar
Johor Darul Takzim

Batu Pahat
108-2 Jalan Rahmat
83000 Batu Pahat
Johor Darul Takzim

Kluang
8A Jalan Dato’ Haji Hassan
86000 Kluang
Johor Darul Takzim

Kota Bahru
3940 Jalan Temenggong
15000 Kota Bharu
Kelantan Darul Naim

Kuantan
40 Jalan Teluk Sisek
25000 Kuantan
Pahang Darul Makmur

East Malaysia

Kota Kinabalu
21 & 23 Jalan Pantai
88000 Kota Kinabalu
Sabah

Kuching
UG Floor, Gateway Kuching
No.9, Jalan Bukit Mata
93100 Kuching
Sarawak

Public Bank
Pulau Pinang
Bukit Mertajam
2644 – 2648, Jalan Che Bee Noor,
14000 Bukit Mertajam, Pulau Pinang
Tel: 04-5392205 , 04-5392207
Fax: 04-5392164

Jelutong
407-A, Jalan Jelutong,
11600 Jelutong, Pulau Pinang
Tel: 04-2813227 , 04-2825230
Fax: 04-2825232

Pulau Pinang
87, Lebuh Bishop,
10200 Pulau Pinang
Tel: 04-2613415 , 04-2616755
Fax: 04-2617417

Kuala Lumpur

Bangsar
36 & 38, Jalan Maarof,
Bangsar, 59100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-22828929, 03-22828930
Fax: 03-22828917

Bukit Damansara
36-40, Medan Setia 2,
Plaza Damansara, Bukit Damansara,
50490 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-20954278, 03-20954922
Fax: 03-20949403, 03-20943844, 03-20956417 (RCB)

Jalan Raja Laut
Lot G3 & 1A.2,
Bangunan KWSP,
5, Jalan Raja Laut, 50350 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-26930722
Fax: 03-26914624

Jalan Sultan Sulaiman
Bangunan Public Bank,
6, Jalan Sultan Sulaiman, 50000 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-20702711
Fax: 03-22745909

Jalan Sungei Besi
12, Jalan Sungei Besi,
57100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-92214771, 03-92215655
Fax: 03-92212968

Jalan Raja Chulan
Wisma Lim Foo Yong,
86, Jalan Raja Chulan,
50200 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-21418255, 03-21418366
Fax: 03-21487721

Kepong
17, 19 & 21, Jalan Ambong Kiri Dua,
Kepong Baru, 52100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-62570032, 03-62574690
Fax: 03-62516611, 03-62519386

KL City Main Office
Ground Floor, Menara Public Bank,
146, Jalan Ampang, 50450 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2176 7888, 03-2163 8866
Fax: 03-21639901

Red Carpet Banking
7th Floor, Menara Public Bank,
No 146, Jalan Ampang,
50450 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-21766723
Fax: 03-21639930

Seri Petaling
40-42, Jalan Radin Tengah,
Bandar Baru Seri Petaling, 57000 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-90585711, 03-90585712
Fax: 03-90570415, 03-90582026

Taman Desa
Lot 1A-3A, Business Centre,
Taman Desa, Off Jalan Kelang Lama,
58100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-79837811, 03-79837812
Fax: 03-79818069

Taman Maluri
275 & 277,
Jalan Mahkota,
Taman Maluri, Cheras
55100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-92859994, 03-92857203
Fax: 03-92856811

Taman Tun Dr. Ismail
66, 68 & 70
Jalan Burhanuddin Helmi
Taman Tun Dr. Ismail
60000 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-7729 4672, 03-7729 9440
Fax: 03-7729 8754, 03-7722 3719

Johor

Johor Bahru
Level 1, 2 & 12, Public Bank Tower,
19, Jalan Wong Ah Fook,
80000 Johor Bahru, Johor
Tel: 07-2241733
Fax: 07-2223813 (Level 1), 07-2241527 (Level 2) & 07-2221988 (Level 12)

Masai
1 & 3, Jalan Suria 3
Bandar Seri Alam, 81750 Masai, Johor
Tel: 07-2522498 , 07-2522500
Fax: 07-2511795

Taman Johor Jaya
29, 31, 33 & 35, Jalan Rosmerah 2/10,
Taman Johor Jaya, 81100 Johor Bahru, Johor
Tel: 07-351 3128, 07-352 3128
Fax: 07-3547113

Taman Perling
31,33 & 35,
Jalan Persisiran Perling,
Taman Perling, 81200 Johor Bahru, Johor
Tel: 07-2344919 , 07-2344608
Fax: 07-2345850

Taman Sentosa
G1 & G2,Wisma Daiman, 64 Jalan Sulam,
Taman Sentosa, 80150 Johor Bahru, Johor
Tel: 07-3316521, 07-3312266
Fax: 07-3312666

Kedah

Jalan Kota
1557, Jalan Kota
05000 Alor Setar, Kedah
Tel: 04-7310559, 04-7311384
Fax: 04-7317716

Melaka

Melaka
60-68, Jalan Laksamana,
75000 Melaka
Tel: 06-2830233
Fax: 06-2844552

Sabah

Kota Kinabalu
Lot G.1 & Lot 1.1, Menara MAA,
6, Lorong Api-Api 1,
Api-Api Centre, 88000 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah
Tel: 088-239611 , 088-239612
Fax: 088-236630

Sarawak

Bintulu
29 – 32, Jalan Sommerville,
97000 Bintulu, Sarawak
Tel: 086-331433
Fax: 086-336028

China Street
28, China Street,
98000 Miri, Sarawak
Tel: 085-417227 , 085-417228
Fax: 085-419855

Kuching City
Nos. 102-110, Jalan Song Thian Cheok,
93100 Kuching,
Sarawak
Tel: 082-417922, 082-417923, 082-417924, 082-417925, 082-417926,
082-417927, 082-417928 & 082-417929
Fax: 082-424248

Sibu
2, 4 , 6 & 8, Lorong 2,
Jalan Tuanku Osman, 96000 Sibu, Sarawak
Tel: 084-320088, 084-316511
Fax: 084-314088, 084-335739

Wisma Saberkas
Lot G.01 & G.02A, Wisma Saberkas,
Jalan Tun Abang Haji Openg,
93000 Kuching, Sarawak
Tel: 082-419889 , 082-428800
Fax: 082-424662

Selangor

Bandar Puchong Jaya
9 & 10, Jalan Kenari 1,
Bandar Puchong Jaya,
47100 Puchong, Selangor
Tel: 03-58821888, 03-58821889
Fax: 03-58821299, 03-58822340

Bandar Sunway
48 & 50, Jalan PJS 11/28A,
Bandar Sunway, 46150 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
Tel: 03-56364138, 03-56362256
Fax: 03-56363556

Damansara Utama
49, 51 & 53, Jalan SS 21/60,
Damansara Utama,
47400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
Tel: 03-77289376, 03-77289406
Fax: 03-77278064

Petaling Jaya New Town
1, 3 & 5, Jalan 52/2,
46200 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
Tel: 03-79570211, 03-79570007
Fax: 03-79579601

Section 14
12, 14 & 16, Jalan 14/14,
46100 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
Tel: 03-79582585, 03-79582586
Fax: 03-79582593

SS 2
61-1, 61-2 & 61-3,
Jalan SS 2/75,
47300 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor
Tel: 03-78740436, 03-78741933, 03-78741977, 03-78742989, 03-78743011, 03-78743033, 03-78749442, 03-78741911, 03-78778560, 03-78771766
Fax: 03-78741491

Subang Jaya
B1- B4, Jalan SS 15/4D,
Subang Jaya, 47500 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
Tel: 03-56332420, 03-56332421
Fax: 03-56347713

Taman Chi Liung
22, 24, 26 & 28, Lintang Menalu,
Taman Chi Liung, 41200 Klang, Selangor
Tel: 03-33718899, 03-33718482
Fax: 03-33720319

Perak

Bercham
4, 6, 8, & 10, Persiaran Bercham Selatan 2,
31400 Ipoh, Perak
Tel: 05-548 0058, 05-548 0632, 05-548 2462, 05-546 8444, 05-546 8623,
05-548 3888 & 05-546 8140
Fax: 05-548 0333 & 05-547 3888

Ipoh Garden
133, 133A-D,
Jalan Dato` Lau Pak Khuan,
31400 Ipoh, Perak
Tel: 05-5480951 , 05-5480952
Fax: 05-5480958

Ipoh Main Office
7 – 13, Jalan Dato` Maharajalela,
30000 Ipoh, Perak
Tel: 05-2530115 , 05-2531034
Fax: 05-2535505

Jalan Sultan Idris Shah
76, Jalan Sultan Idris Shah,
30000 Ipoh, Perak
Tel: 05-2551068 , 05-2551069
Fax: 05-2556555

Jalan Yang Kalsom
46-54, Jalan Yang Kalsom
30250 Ipoh, Perak
Tel: 05-2531998 , 05-2531514
Fax: 05-2535528 , 05-2558430

Sejarah emas di Malaysia

2011-05-09T09:41:00.001+08:00

Dalam kitab purba hindu dan Budha seperti Ramayana, Purana dan Raguwamsa, pendeta-pendeta hindu memanggil Semenanjung Malaysia sebagai semenanjung emas (suvarnabhumi) iaitu merujuk satu kawasan di Nusantara bagi mendapatkan bekalan emas ketika Tamadun Aryan memerintah di India.
Di dalam naskah Buddha yang paling tertua juga iaitu Jataka ada menceritakan perjalanan pelaut-pelaut India Kuno berlayar hingga ke Suvarnabhumi.
Satu kitab kuno India ada menyebutkan Nusantara ini ‘the fabulous Land of Gold’-iaitu Tanah Emas Yang Menakjubkan, sama seperti yang diutarakan oleh Kitab Buddha Jataka.Apakah maksud ‘menakjubkan’ itu?Adakah mereka bertemu dengan orang Melayu yang bercawat dan tinggal di atas pokok sambil bermain dengan tupai dan melukis gambar awan di batang pokok lalu para dewa-dewi atau bangsawan India ini mengatakan “Wow!Menakjubkan!”? Tentunya kerana terdapat banyak emas disitu.
Dalam sejarah Yunani, Claudios Ptolemy, ahli Geografi Yunani yang belayar ke Nusantara pada abad kedua masihi (165) memanggil tanah melayu sebagai Golden Chersone, yang juga bermaksud semenanjung emas yang berada berhampiran Taprobana (sumatera) didalam teksnya berjudul Geographike Hyphegesis
Pelayar China, I-Tsing (634-713) yang belayar ke Sumatera pada abad ke-7 memanggil kawasan-kawasan sekitar Sumatera sebagai Chin-Chou bermaksud negeri-negeri emas merujuk kepada Kerajaan-kerajaan melayu tua didalam teks pelayarannya.

Laksamana Cheng Ho dikatakan pernah melawat Gunung Ledang. Beliau dikatakan melawat lombong-lombong emas di Gunung Ledang dan mengambil contoh emas-emas tersebut untuk pengetahuan rajanya
Mengikut Sejarah siam, Raja Suryavarman II membawa 700 ekor gajah untuk membeli emas dengan pemimpin Melayu di Raub, Pahang bagi membina Angkor Wat pada pertengahan abad ke 12.
Berabad-abad lamanya para musafir Arab menyebut pulau Sumatera dengan nama Suwarandib dan kemudian orang-orang Melayu era Klasik menyebutnya sebagai Tanah Serendib (rujuk Sejarah Melayu), di mana kata ‘Suwarandib’ ini sebenarnya adalah penjelmaan dari nama ‘Suvarnadwipa’ dalam lenggok lidah orang Arab. Abu Raihan Al-Biruni, ahli geografi berbangsa Parsi yang mengunjungi Sriwijaya pada tahun 1030 Masehi, ada mencatatkan bahawa negeri Sriwijaya terletak di Pulau Suwarandib;Pulau Emas yang menakjubkan itu.
Dalam peta lama Portugis, nama GEMIH ini ditulis sebagai Gummay yang bermaksud sebuah pusat perusahaan emas.Menurut kolonel Gerini ( 1904 ), Gemih masih merupakan pusat perlombongan emas orang-orang Melayu di Gunung Ledang sehingga tahun 1817.
Kemewahan dan kekayaan Tanah Melayu dengan emas sangat terkenal dari zaman Firaun dan Nabi Sulaiman lagi. Gunung Ledang di Johor dikaitkan dengan Mount of Ophir (merujuk kepada “Lombong Emas Solomon” yang masih menjadi misteri dunia (Ophir berada di Philipines) menyebabkan Tanah Melayu sentiasa diancam, diserang dan dijajah. Nenek moyang melayu dahulu pernah mengganut Agama Budha ketika Tamadun Aryan berkuasa, agama Hindu ketika Brahmin-Brahmin India datang berniaga disini dan akhirnya Islam setelah berhubung terus dengan Saudagar-saudagar Arab di Melaka dan Sumatera.
Akhirnya, Tanah Melayu telah dijajah oleh semua kuasa, sebut sahaja, Siam, Champa, China, India, Portugis, Belanda, British, Jepun pernah menguasai hasil kekayaan emas di tanah ini.
Ketika zaman imperialisme, British begitu berminat untuk menguasai pengeluaran emas di negeri Pahang yang ketika itu dipimpin oleh Sultan Ahmad dengan pelbagai helah dan tentangan dari pemimpin setempat akhirnya mereka dapat menguasai Pahang dengan bantuan Raja Abu Bakar (sultan johor) dan residen british pertama dilantik di Pahang adalah JP Roger pada tahun 1824.
Rounsevelle Wildman, seorang penulis terkenal dari Amerika Syarikat telah menemui seketul logam yang diambil dari kawasan lombong di tebing Sungai Gemih pada tahun 1894, apabila dileburkan didapati mengandungi emas.
Rezab emas negara dikatakan masih lagi tersimpan sebanyak 106,000 Ton daripada kajian-kajian yang diilakukan dan ia sentiasa bertambah apabila penemuan baru dan akan berkurang apabila mineral tersebut digali dari perut bumi.
Malaysia bukannya negara pengeksport emas terbesar, malah kita bukan dikalangan 30 negara terbesar memiliki emas, Menurut kajian sebuah institut mineral yang berpangkalan di Amerika, Malaysia berada di tangga ke-39 dunia mempunyai rezab emas yang belum digali.
Perlombongan emas di Malaysia hanya terhad di beberapa kawasan sahaja, ia dikenali sebagai Jalur Tengah yang terbentang dari kawasan tanah tinggi Batu Melintang, Jeli, Kelantan, sehingga Gunung Ledang di Johor. Lombong terbesar yang masih aktif di Malaysia adalah di Penjam,kuala lipis, ia mengeluarkan hampir 95% pengeluaran emas Malaysia. Tempat lain yang masih aktif adalah di Kuala Selinsing, Damar Reef dan Tersang di Pahang . Selain itu masih ada 5 lagi lombong di Jeli dan 6 lombong sekitar kawasan raub, kuala lipis di Pahang masih digali untuk aktiviti perlombongan komersial.
Kesan dari penjajahan British keatas tanah melayu dari tahun 1817 sehingga 1957 menyaksikan hampir semua emas negara telah dikorek habis habisan oleh penjajah seperti di bekas-bekas lombong di Jeli, Gua Musang dan Tanah Merah, Kelantan yang kini menjadi lombong mati.
Pada tahun 2008, negara dikejutkan dengan penemuan emas di Pantai Mersing dari kesan “Gold Rush” pada Jalur Timur iaitu selari dengan Jalur emas di Lubuk Mandi, Terengganu yang telah ditutup tetapi dibuka semula pada tahun 2002.
Hanya terdapat dua jenis emas di Malaysia iaitu Au-Cu-Ag-Zn di Jalur tengah dan Au-Cu di Jalur timur. Ia biasanya berada di lereng-lereng bukit di kawasan tadahan air sungai. Sungai yang biasa dikaitkan dengan emas adalah sungai Jelai dan Koyan di Pahang.
Pada awal tahun 2010 kita dikejutkan sekali lagi dengan penemuan “emas” di Pendang, Kedah di kawasan kuari yang telah ditutup tetapi setelah kajian dilakukan, “emas” tersebut sebenarnya adalah “Pyrite” iaitu mineral yang biasa digunakan untuk membuat emas palsu. Pendang di kedah adalah selari dengan Jalur Barat yang kaya dengan bijih timah suatu masa dahulu.

Pelaburan Emas di UOB Bank

2011-05-06T07:09:00.001+08:00

Gold Investment Accounts
A competitive edge to your treasury needs

At UOB, we have designed an easy and affordable way to invest in gold.

Gold is the most popular choice of investment among all precious metals. It is a highly coveted commodity and a form of global currency. At UOB, we have designed an easy and affordable way to invest in gold. Now you can invest with UOB Gold Investment Accounts and earn potential returns from any price appreciation.

We are offering 2 types of accounts - Premier Gold Account (PGA) and Gold Savings Account (GSA). These are statement-based accounts that allow you to buy and sell gold at UOB Bank’s Prevailing market rate.

    Premier Gold Account     Gold Savings Account
Minimum Initial Investment     1kg     20 gm
Minimum Subsequent Investment / Withdrawal     In multiple of 1 kg     In multiple of 5 gm
Minimum Balance in the Account     1 kg     10 gm
Fees And Charges     An administrative fee of RM2.00 will be charged per month if the balance of the account falls below 1kg at month end.     An administrative fee of RM2.00 will be charged per month if the balance of the account falls below 10gm at month end.
Account Opening Requirement     Prior to opening a Gold Investment Account, the investor is required to maintain either a savings account or current account in RM to facilitate the transaction, administrative fees or and other charges.

Enjoy the rewards of a golden investment

    * Secure, hassle-free investment
    * You will be investing in gold without the inconvenience of storing and transfering the physical gold, or the security concerns of holding it.
    * The account is reflected in your statement.

    * Low price spread
    * The difference between buying and selling prices is low.

    * Conversion to physical gold
    * You may convert the gold purchased under PGA and GSA to physical gold (subject to UOB Bank’s approval). A nominal conversion fee will be charged for the conversion.

    * Instant liquidity
    * You can cash in your investment any time during banking hours.

Pelaburan Emas di Public Bank

2011-05-05T07:05:00.002+08:00

Gold Investment Account

Key Benefits

To earn potentially higher return from appreciation in gold price.
Convenience of investing in gold as trading is carried out through a passbook/ online.
Small difference between selling and buying prices.
Affordable initial purchase and subsequent investment.
Invest in gold without having to keep the gold physically.
Gold is the best possible hedge against inflation.
Alternative investment avenue to build up personal gold portfolio which is cheaper compared to invest in gold jewellery as the latter will incur additional cost on workmanship.

What is a Gold Investment Account?

Gold Investment Account is an account which allows individual customers to purchase the purest available gold commodity in 99.99% fineness at daily prices for 1 gram in Ringgit Malaysia (RM).
A passbook will be provided to the account holders and every purchase/sale order will be recorded in the passbook.

Eligibility

•	Individuals (resident or non-resident) aged 18 years and above.
•	Personal or joint

Minimum Initial Purchase

20gms

Minimum Balance in the Account

2gms

Minimum Subsequent Purchase/ Sale

5 grams and must be in multiple of 1 gram

Gold Purchase

•	Gold purchase will be based on the Bank's prevailing gold SELLING price quoted in RM per gram.
•	The mode of payment accepted for purchase of gold are : - cash - debiting of account - house cheque
•	No physical gold deposit is allowed.

Gold Sale/ Withdrawal

•	Gold sale will be based on the Bank's prevailing gold BUYING price quoted in RM per gram.
•	Withdrawal options available are : - Cash - Crediting of account - Collection of physical gold withdrawal at selected branches

Account Opening Requirement

Customer is required to maintain either a savings account or current account prior to opening a GIA to facilitate the debiting of service fee, if any.

Service Fee

An annual fee of RM10 will be levied on the designated deposit account on the first day of the calendar year if the account balance is below 10gms as at year end.

Online Gold Trading via PBeBank.com

•

Available from 9.30 a.m. to 4.45 p.m., Monday to Friday when the Bank is opened for business in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur.

•

Gold purchases and sales are offered at a discounted price.

•

Registration of GIA for PBeBank.com online banking service is required.

•

Transaction Limit:

Minimum	5 grams per transaction
Maximum	RM50,000 equivalent per GIA account per day for both gold purchases and sales.

Don't miss out on this golden investment!

Terms and conditions apply.

Not insured by PIDM.

Pelaburan Emas di Maybank

2011-05-04T07:04:00.001+08:00

Gold Savings Passbook Account

An investment account that lets you make deposits and withdrawals in gold based on daily gold prices at any Maybank branch

Minimum deposit:
5gm
Trading unit:
Minimum 5gms in multiples of 1gm
Fineness:
999.9 gold

Benefits

Convenience of deposit, withdrawal and closing of GSPA account at any Maybank branch in Malaysia
Introduced by the country's largest bank, 100% backed by physical gold and in collaboration with the World Gold Council
Cheaper as gold prices quoted are pegged to international gold prices without additional charges
Ability to build a personal gold portfolio by purchasing gold in small amounts (minimum 5gms) regularly over a period of time
Opportunity for capital gain if the price of gold appreciates
Possible hedge against inflation
Easy access to account details and transaction history via Maybank2u.com for GSPA individual / joint account holders with Maybank2u.com access.

Who can apply

Individuals
Joint account – maximum 4 persons

How it works

The Gold Savings Passbook Account (GSPA) is an account that lets you invest in gold in a convenient, more secure and cheaper way. You can purchase gold in 999.9 fineness at all Maybank branches at daily quoted gold prices for 1gm in Malaysian Ringgit. All transactions will be recorded in your GSPA passbook.
Whenever you need to, you may conveniently withdraw from the GSPA to be exchanged with cash. The amount of gold holdings can be converted to Ringgit Malaysia (RM) equivalent at the prevailing market (gold) price.

Pelaburan Emas di Kuwait Finance House

2011-05-03T07:01:00.006+08:00

Gold Account-i

Gold... Your Gateway to Diversified Investments
With KFH Gold Account-i, you can conveniently invest and trade in Gold. This account allows you to track and plan your investments wisely as trades are recorded in your account statement.
Make the right choice and talk to us today. We can help you plan your investments.

Product Features and Benefits

Own and trade in Gold without the necessity to hold on to the physical commodity
Make the most of commodity price fluctuations with the peace of mind that you have the option to not hold on to the physical commodity.
Ease of purchase
Deposit or purchase can be arranged via a direct debit transaction from your KFH Savings Account-i or KFH Current Account-i.
Affordable initial deposit
Open an account with an initial deposit or purchase of 10 grams of Gold.
Withdrawal or sell at the Bank's purchase price of gold
The amount of withdrawal is equivalent to the amount of gold sold based on the Bank's buying price for gold.

Eligibility

Personal Account holders must be 18 years, or above.
Non-personal account holders such as companies, associations, clubs, societies, professionals and government agencies.
Minimum deposit:
- Personal Account Holders
  Initial deposit, or purchase of 10 grams of Gold, with subsequent purchase or deposit of 5 grams each. (Deposit or purchase can only be in multiples of 1 gram)
- Non- Personal Account Holders
  Initial deposit, or purchase of 50 grams of Gold, with subsequent purchase or deposit of 5 grams each. (Deposit or purchase can only be in multiples of 1 gram)

Types of Account

Personal Account
Non-personal Account

Terms and Conditions

Subject to terms and conditions. The bank reserves the right to review and change the above features and benefits, as it deems necessary.

Harga Perak Mac 2011

2011-04-27T06:52:00.000+08:00

Harga Perak 2000 - 2011 (Kini)

2011-04-26T06:50:00.000+08:00

Harga Perak 2010

2011-04-25T06:39:00.002+08:00

Harga Emas 60 Hari

2011-04-20T06:05:00.002+08:00

Harga Emas 30 Hari

2011-04-19T06:01:00.001+08:00

Harga Emas pada Harga Tertinggi dalam Sejarah

2011-04-18T06:53:00.002+08:00

Jumaat lepas, harga emas telah mencapai rekod tertinggi dalam sejarah. Ini ekoran daripada krisis politik di Timur Tengah yang masih berterusan, krisis hutang negara PIGS di eropah, akaun defisit US yang semakin meruncing, bencana yang melanda Jepun, dan kebimbangan terhadap nilai dolar yang semakin turun.

Notis Penting Saham Bank Rakyat

2011-04-12T15:49:00.000+08:00

Mungkin ada yang mengambil kesempatan sehingga Bank Rakyat terpaksa mengeluarkan notis berikut:

				NOTIS PENTING SAHAM BANK RAKYAT	12/4/11
				Lanjutan pengumuman penambahan saham Bank Rakyat baru-baru ini, pelanggan dan mereka yang berminat boleh melanggan/mendapatkan saham ini di semua cawangan Bank Rakyat di seluruh negara. Bagaimanapun, Bank Rakyat TIDAK MELANTIK mana-mana INDIVIDU/SYARIKAT bagi mengedarkan borang, mengutip wang tunai/cek bagi tujuan pemilikan saham ini. Adalah dimaklumkan bahawa semua proses untuk memiliki SAHAM BANK RAKYAT hanya boleh dilakukan di CAWANGAN BANK RAKYAT SAHAJA. Sila hubungi cawangan Bank Rakyat yang berhampiran anda untuk sebarang pertanyaan atau hubungi pusat panggilan tele-Rakyat 1-300-88-1BANK (12265).

Pembiayaan Peribadi Bank Rakyat 1Aslah

2011-04-11T15:55:00.001+08:00

PERSONAL FINANCING-i 1ASLAH
Our personal financing facility can assist individuals in meeting financial obligations e.g. down payments for a car, houses, home renovations and others.

Concept
Bai-Al’inah

Eligibility

Malaysian citizens between the ages of 18 and 55 years (58 years old - government employees only)
Government employees with a minimum income of RM700.00
Private sector employees with an income of RM3000.00
Employees in service for not less than 3 years

Quantum of Financing
Financing of up to RM200,000.00* or monthly deductions not exceeding 60% of gross monthly income

Repayment Period
Maximum of 20 years

Repayment Method

'Biro Perkhidmatan Angkasa (BPA)'
Employee Salary Deduction
Savings Account Deduction

Special Features

Low monthly instalment
Fast Approval
No guarantor and collateral*
Profit rate as low as 3.25%
*Terms and conditions apply

Harga Emas Naik 26% (1 Tahun)

2011-04-09T11:08:00.000+08:00

Setakat 8 April 2011 (tempoh 1 tahun), harga emas telah naik sebanyak 26%. Prestasi yang amat cemerlang dan sungguh menggembirakan bagi pelabur-pelabur emas.

Harga Perak Naik 100% (1 Tahun)

2011-04-08T23:33:00.000+08:00

Berbanding logam yang lebih berharga iaitu emas, kenaikan harga perak adalah lebih ketara untuk tempoh 1 tahun sehingga 8 April 2011. Harga perak naik melebihi 100%. Cuma pelaburan perak masih kurang popular kerana dianggap logam yang kurang berharga berbanding emas.

PBIAEF -1.71% Suku 1 Tahun 2011

2011-04-07T08:56:00.001+08:00

Prestasi PB Islamic Asia Equity Fund (PBIAEF) banyak dipengaruhi oleh berita bencana yang menimpa Jepun. Ini terbukti apabila harga dana PBIAEF jatuh melebihi -7% pada pertengahan Mac. Tapi ia kembali pulih dengan mendadak pada 15 hari terakhir bulan Mac, dan ini membantu mengurangkan sedikit kejatuhan harga. Pelabur yang membeli selepas jualan panik pada bulan Mac, pasti dapat mendapat untung serta merta.

Pubic Asia Ittikal Fund -2.78% (Suku 1 Tahun 2011)

2011-04-06T11:44:00.000+08:00

Prestasi PAIF agak kurang memuaskan untuk suku pertama tahun 2011. Ia jatuh sehingga melebihi -7% sebelum pulih pada 2 minggu terakhir bulan Mac. Dana ini sesuai bagi pelabur yang yakin ekonomi terutamanya rantau Asia Pasifik akan kembali pulih cepat.

PIOF 1.58% (Jan - Mac 2011)

2011-04-05T11:03:00.000+08:00

Dana Public Opportunity Fund memberi pulangan sebanyak 1.58% untuk tempoh 3 bulan pertama 2011. Dana PIOF lebih sesuai untuk pelabur yang gemar membuat market timing kerana ciri volatiliti yang agak tinggi. Perhatikan, dana PIOF naik melebihi 6% daripada paras terendah pada pertengahan bulan Mac hingga hujung Mac.

Public Islamic Select Enterprises Fund 5.21% (Suku Pertama 2011)

2011-04-04T10:47:00.000+08:00

PISEF adalah antara dana yang memberi pulangan terbaik bagi suku pertama 2011 apabila memberi pulangan sebanyak 5.21% (tempoh 3 bulan). Prestasi yang cemerlang ini disebabkan pemilihan kaunter yang agak baik dan terhad bilangannya. Ketika pasaran seluruh dunia menjunam pada hujung Januari hingga awal Mac, dana PISEF masih berada pada paras positif. Suatu prestasi yang memang cemerlang.

PBIEF 1.83% (3 Bulan, Jan - Mac 2011)

2011-04-02T10:38:00.000+08:00

Prestasi dana PB Islamic Equity Fund (PBIEF) untuk 3 bulan pertama tahun 2011 agak sederhana dengan memberi pulangan sebanyak 1.83%. Namun bagi pelabur yang dapat membeli pada paras terendah pada bulan Mac, PBIEF memberi pulangan melebihi 4%, iaitu untuk tempoh kurang sebulan. Maknanya, faktor market timing amat penting, walaupun ia sesuatu yang agak sukar kalaupun tidak mustahil untuk dilakukan.

Public Ittikal 3.46% (Suku Pertama 2011)

2011-04-01T10:25:00.001+08:00

Prestasi Public Ittikal untuk suku tahun pertama (3 bulan, 3 Jan - 31 Mar) 2011 agak memuaskan. Dana Ittikal memberi pulangan sebanyak 3.46% selaras dengan kejatuhan saham pada bulan Feb dan awal Mac.

Greatest Investor: John Templeton

2011-03-28T08:16:00.000+08:00

John Templteton is the pioneer of the global mutual fund industry. No one before him had heard of investing overseas. Today, the Templeton Group's combined assets stand at $25 billion plus. Know more about this great investor...

Templeton earned his billions by introducing globally diversified mutual funds. He founded the investment fund Templeton Growth Ltd in 1954.

Beginning a Wall Street career in 1937, Templeton created some of the world's largest and most successful international investment funds. Termed 'arguably the greatest global stock picker of the century' by Money Magazine (January 1999), he sold his various Templeton funds in 1992 to the Franklin Group for $440 million.

Through the John Templeton Foundation, based in Radnor, Pennsylvania, he donates about $40 million a year -- especially to projects, college courses, books and essays on the benefits of cooperation between science and religion.

One of Templeton's earliest investors was Leroy Paslay. He gave him $65,500 to invest in 1954. Forty years later, Paslay was worth over $37 million.

After making billions through his innovative approach to investing, Templeton has become one of the world's greatest philanthropists. In 1987, he founded the $14 billion John Templeton Foundation.

He was born in the town of Winchester, Tennessee. He attended Yale University and graduated in economics in 1934. He was a Rhodes Scholar to Balliol College, University of Oxford.

Now a British citizen living in Nassau, the Bahamas, Templeton was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1987. He is one of the creators of the world's richest award, the $1 million-plus Templeton Prize for Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities, presented annually in London since 1972.

Greatest Investor: Peter Lynch

2011-03-21T08:10:00.000+08:00

Lynch coined some popular mantras of modern investing strategies. His most famous principle is: 'Invest in what you know,' popularising the economic concept of 'local knowledge.'

Before joining Fidelity as a stock analyst, Lynch served in the United States Army for a couple of years and studied at Boston College and at the Wharton School of the University of Philadelphia.

He was born on January 19, 1944. Lynch was hired as an intern with Fidelity Investments in 1966. Lynch's greatest successes occurred in a vast array of stocks, including Fannie Mae, Ford, Philip Morris, MCI, Volvo, General Electric, General Public Utilities, Student Loan Marketing, Kemper, and Loews.

Lynch has written (with co-author John Rothchild) three essays on investing, including One Up on Wall Street, Beating the Street, and Learn to Earn. The last one was written for teenagers. Lynch also wrote a series of investment articles for Worth magazine.

Currently Lynch is concentrating on philanthropy. The Lynch Foundation, which had $74 million in assets in 2003, supports education, religious organisations, cultural and historic organisations, hospitals and medical research.

Greatest Investor: George Soros

2011-03-14T08:13:00.000+08:00

George Soros is the founder and chairman of a network of foundations that promote the creation of open, democratic societies based on the rule of law, market economies, transparent and accountable governance, freedom of the press and respect for human rights.

For someone who started his life as a railroad porter, story of Soros' life is stuff dreams are made of.

Born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1930, his father was taken prisoner during World War I and eventually fled from captivity in Russia to reunite with his family in Budapest.

Soros was 13 when Adolf Hitler began deporting the country's Jews to concentration camps. He emigrated to England in 1947 and earned his living by working as a railroad porter and a restaurant waiter. He graduated in 1952 from the London School of Economics and obtained an entry-level position with an investment bank.

At the London School of Economics, Soros was much influenced by philosopher Karl Popper. The latter's critique of totalitarianism, The Open Society and Its Enemies, in which he maintained that societies can only flourish when they allow democratic governance, freedom of expression, a diverse range of opinion and respect for individual rights paved Soros' future course of life.

In 1956, Soros immigrated to the US wherein he worked as a trader and analyst until 1963. During this period, he adapted Popper's ideas to develop his 'theory of reflexivity,' a set of ideas that seeks to explain the relationship between thought and reality.

Soros began to apply his theory to investing and concluded that he had more talent for trading than for philosophy. In 1967, he helped establish an offshore investment fund.

In 1973, Soros set up a private investment firm that eventually evolved into the Quantum Fund and became the source of Soros' fortune.

In 1979, Soros provided funds to help black students attend the University of Cape Town in Apartheid South Africa.

Soon he created a foundation in Hungary to support culture and education and the country's transition to democracy.

Soros distributed funds to the underground Solidarity movement in Poland, Charter 77 in Czechoslovakia and the Soviet dissident-physicist Andrei Sakharov.

In 1982, Soros named his philanthropic organisation the Open Society Fund, in honour of Karl Popper, and began granting scholarships to students from Eastern Europe.

Most recently, Soros provided $50 million to support the Millennium Villages initiative, which seeks to lift some of the least developed villages in Africa out of poverty.

In 1993, Soros created the Open Society Institute, which supports the Soros foundations working to develop democratic institutions throughout Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.

In 2003, Soros said that removing US President George W Bush from office was one of his main priorities. During the 2004 campaign, he donated significant funds to various groups dedicated to defeating the President.

Greatest Investor: Warren Buffett

2011-03-11T08:06:00.001+08:00

The 76-year-old Buffett, who is known as 'the Oracle of Omaha,' topped the world's greatest investors list. Buffet made an enormous fortune from astute investments, particularly through his company Berkshire Hathaway, of which he is the largest shareholder and CEO. Berkshire Hathaway has about $2 billion in holdings.

With an estimated net worth of about $46 billion, Buffett, often called the 'Sage of Omaha', is ranked by Forbes as the second richest person in the world, behind Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.

As a child, Buffett was a paper boy for the Washington Post and attempted to cover more than one route at the same time. Showing a spontaneous talent for making money, Buffett also started earning that early by collecting and selling lost golf balls.

He even started playing the stock market with one of his sisters at 11. At 12, he was betting on horses and by high school he started a business (pinball machines) with a friend, which earned him $50 a week.

Not only did he own a business by the time he graduated, he also had bought himself 40 acres of farmland in Nebraska. During his graduation, Buffett met Benjamin Graham, an economist. Buffett was strongly influenced by Graham's theory that it is wise to look for stocks of companies which are undervalued as they will probably prosper with a little time.

Thus began Buffett's unconventional approach to portfolio management. After working for his father's investment banking company for three years after business school, Buffett returned to Graham and worked as a security analyst at Graham's company until 1956.

Buffett started his investment company, the Buffett Partnership, at 25, using $5,000 of his own funds and collecting $100,000 from friends and family. One of the smartest moves made by Buffet's company at that time was to invest in American Express.

In June 2006, Buffett made a commitment to give away his fortune to charity, with 85% of it ($30 billion) going to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Buffett's donation was the largest act of charitable giving in the world's history.

Buffett also pledged one million shares to a foundation established by himself and his late wife, Susan, and 350,000 shares each to the foundations of children Howard, Susan and Peter.

Greatest Investors: Philip Fisher

2011-03-10T06:30:00.000+08:00

Philip A. Fisher

Born:	San Francisco, California in 1907; Died 2004
Affiliations:	Fisher & Company
Most Famous For:	Philip Fisher was one of the most influential investors of all time. His investment philosophies, recorded in his investment classic, "Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits" (1958) are still relevant today and are widely studied and applied by investment professionals. It was the first investment book ever to make the New York Times bestseller list. Fisher's son, Kenneth L. Fisher, wrote a eulogy for his father in his regular column in Forbes magazine (March 11, 2004): "Among the pioneer, formative thinkers in the growth stock school of investing, he may have been the last professional witnessing the 1929 crash to go on to become a big name. His career spanned 74 years, but was more diverse than growth stock picking. He did early venture capital and private equity, advised chief executives, wrote and taught. He had an impact. For decades, big names in investing claimed Dad as a mentor, role model and inspiration."

Pakej Easy-ASB 2011

2011-03-08T11:00:00.000+08:00

Pakej Easy-ASB terkini oleh RHB menawarkan promosi yang sangat menarik. Kini pelabur hanya perlu membayar kadar minimum (bayar faedah sahaja) untuk 5 tahun pertama. Ini bermakna, kadar pulangan ASB akan semakin tinggi.

Untuk pinjaman 100K misalnya, bayaran bulanan hanyalah RM450, iaitu berjumlah RM5400 setahun. Dengan kadar dividen ASB 7.5%, pulangan ASB melalui pakej Easy-ASB akan melebihi 40%.

Contoh pengiraan:

Kadar dividen ASB: 7.5%
Bonus: 1.25%
Amaun pinjaman: 100K

Kos pinjaman: RM450 x 12 bulan = RM5400
Amaun dividen + bonus: 100K x 7.625% = RM7625

Kadar peratus pulangan: RM7625/RM5400 - 1 = 41.2%

Jelas, pulangan yang sangat lumayan untuk skim pelaburan yang risikonya sangat rendah. Marilah melabur dalam ASB melalui Easy-ASB.

Kenanga Syariah Growth vs MAAKL Syariah Index vs Public Islamic Select Enterprises

2011-03-06T06:05:00.000+08:00

Keydata	Kenanga Syariah Growth	MAAKL Syariah Index	Public Islamic Select Enterprises
Company	Kenanga Investors Bhd	MAAKL Mutual Bhd	Public Mutual Bhd
Category	Equity Malaysia (Islamic)	Equity Malaysia (Islamic)	Equity Malaysia (Islamic)
Launch Date	2002-01-29	2002-01-04	2008-08-14
Approved Fund Size	200,000,000	300,000,000	1,500,000,000
Fees	Kenanga Syariah Growth	MAAKL Syariah Index	Public Islamic Select Enterprises
Sales Charge	5.0%	6.5%	5.5%
Redemption Charge	None	None	None
Annual Management Fee	1.5%	1.5%	1.5%
MER (Management Expense Ratio)	2.87%	1.63%	1.68%
Transaction Details	Kenanga Syariah Growth	MAAKL Syariah Index	Public Islamic Select Enterprises
Minimum Initial Investment	RM1,000	RM500	RM1,000
Minimum Additional Investment	RM100	RM100	RM100
Minimum Units Held	100	100	1000
Redemption Frequency Limit	0		0
Minimum Redemption	RM1,000	None	1,000 units
Regular Investing	Yes	Yes	N/A
Minimum Initial Regular Investment	RM100	RM500	N/A
Minimum Additional Regular Investment	RM100	RM100	N/A
Fund Switching	Yes	Yes	Yes
Switching Frequency Limit	0	0	0
Minimum Units per Switch	None	RM1,000	1,000 units
Free Switches	2	2
Switching Fee	RM100 / 1% (Whichever is lower.)	RM25 (for switches to any other Equity/Balanced/Money Market Funds.)	RM25 (To Equity/Balanced Fund: NAV + RM25; to Bond Fund: NAV + RM25; to Money Market Funds: at NAV.)
Distribution Reinvestment	Yes	Yes	Yes
Fund Return (as at 2011-03-04)	Kenanga Syariah Growth	MAAKL Syariah Index	Public Islamic Select Enterprises
1 month	%	%	%
6 month	14.48%	8.31%	14.37%
1 year	27.74%	13.65%	17.85%
3 year	42.34%	7.16%	%
5 year	114.61%	67.37%	%

Apple iPad 2 Review

2011-03-05T06:04:00.000+08:00

Steve Jobs himself officially presented the new tablet. Now as things have settled down a bit, here is an Apple iPad 2 Review, with an in-depth analysis of the key features.

This A5 chip obviously makes the Apple iPad 2 twice faster than its predecessor, while it also touts up to 9X better graphics.

It was also previously rumored that the Apple iPad 2 will be slimmer and considerably lighter than its predecessor. Well, that’s true, as Steve Jobs told the audience about its dimensions. The iPad 2 is around 33% thinner than the previous Apple tablet. The width of the Apple iPad 2 is only 8.8mm down from 13.4mm. It is even slimmer than the iPhone 4!

Some users like it white and someothers like it black, so Apple decided to design the iPad 2 in both colors. The audience at the event was so really excited when Steve Jobs announced that the white iPad 2 will be shipped from the very same day than the black iPad 2, meaning that there will be no delay in the delivery of the white iPads.

The previous iPad did not have a front camera, so there was no video conferencing capability, but the face camera has been confirmed for the Apple iPad 2.

Yes that’s right! The iPad 2 will be running iOS 4.3, which will be soon available to download for your iPhone 3Gs, iPhone 4, iPad and iPod Touch 3G & 4G on March 11.

Personally, the thing which has left me awestruck is this new feature. As the iPad is thinner and for it to have Gyroscope, which is aware of the movements of the device in space, is something huge!

Also the built-in accelerometer will give both the portrait and landscape views for games, photos and ebooks. Now when the three-axis gyroscope, accelerometer and compass will all work together then games, maps, and other apps know your every twist, tilt, and 360. It will be an ultimate experience!

As for the price of the Apple iPad 2, it looks like a smart move by Apple to keep the prices unchanged. On the internet, whatever we have read about the features of the Apple iPad 2, Steve Jobs gave an excellent impression of this new tablet. Let us see when we get our hands on one of them to get more details on the Apple iPad 2. Thanks for reading this short yet interesting Apple iPad 2 Review!

Dana Public Ittikal vs Kenanga Shariah Growth

2011-03-04T13:59:00.000+08:00

Keydata	Kenanga Syariah Growth	Public Ittikal Fund
Company	Kenanga Investors Bhd	Public Mutual Bhd
Category	Equity Malaysia (Islamic)	Equity Malaysia (Islamic)
Launch Date	2002-01-29	1997-04-10
Approved Fund Size	200,000,000	1,000,000,000
Fees	Kenanga Syariah Growth	Public Ittikal Fund
Sales Charge	5.0%	5.5%
Redemption Charge	None	None
Annual Management Fee	1.5%	1.5%
MER (Management Expense Ratio)	2.87%	1.58%
Transaction Details	Kenanga Syariah Growth	Public Ittikal Fund
Minimum Initial Investment	RM1,000	RM500
Minimum Additional Investment	RM100	RM50
Minimum Units Held	100	1000
Redemption Frequency Limit	0	0
Minimum Redemption	RM1,000	1,000 units
Regular Investing	Yes	Yes
Minimum Initial Regular Investment	RM100	RM500
Minimum Additional Regular Investment	RM100	RM50
Fund Switching	Yes	Yes
Switching Frequency Limit	0	0
Minimum Units per Switch	None	1,000 units
Free Switches	2	0
Switching Fee	RM100 / 1% (Whichever is lower.)	RM25 / 0% (To Equity/Balanced Fund: NAV + RM25; to Bond Fund: NAV + RM25; to Money Market Funds: at NAV.)
Distribution Reinvestment	Yes	Yes
Fund Return (as at 2011-03-03)	Kenanga Syariah Growth	Public Ittikal Fund
1 month	%	%
6 month	14.48%	10.26%
1 year	27.74%	6.34%
3 year	42.33%	2.04%
5 year	114.61%	58.19%

Harga Emas Pulih Naik 4% Bulan Februari 2011

2011-03-01T13:13:00.001+08:00

Pada bulan lepas, harga emas kembali pulih, naik 4%, dibantu oleh krisis politik di Timur Tengah.

NAB Public Ittikal Naik Melebihi 200% Tempoh 10 Tahun (2001 - 2010)

2011-02-22T13:33:00.000+08:00

NAB (Net Aset Bersih) dana Public Ittikal naik melebihi 200% sejak 10 tahun lepas bermula Jan 2001 hingga Dis 2010. Secara purata dana Ittikal memberi pulangan 20% setahun untuk tempoh tersebut.

Dividen KWSP 5.8 % bagi tahun berakhir 2010

2011-02-21T14:23:00.000+08:00

KUALA LUMPUR 20 Feb. - Kumpulan Wang Simpanan Pekerja (KWSP) hari ini mengumumkan kadar dividen 5.8 peratus untuk ahlinya bagi tahun kewangan berakhir 31 Disember 2010 yang meningkat 15 mata asas, berbanding kadar 5.65 peratus yang dibayar pada 2009.

Ia sekali gus merupakan bayaran dividen tertinggi yang pernah dicapai iaitu RM21.61 bilion, peningkatan 11.55 peratus berbanding dividen RM19.37 bilion pada 2009.

Pengerusinya, Tan Sri Samsudin Osman berkata, pencapaian itu menggambarkan tahun memberangsangkan yang mana pendapatan pelaburan kasar dana persaraan tersebut mencecah rekod tertinggi dalam sejarah sebanyak RM24.06 bilion.

"Ia merupakan peningkatan 39.76 peratus berbanding RM17.22 bilion pendapatan pelaburan kasar yang dicatatkan pada 2009," katanya dalam kenyataan yang dikeluarkan di sini hari ini.

Beliau memberitahu, pendapatan pelaburan memberangsangkan yang dicapai pada 2010 dijana terutama daripada prestasi pelaburan ekuiti.

"Suasana kewangan dan ekonomi yang bertambah baik menyediakan pasaran dengan kecairan mencukupi lalu membenarkan aktiviti pengambilan untung sepanjang tahun," jelasnya.

Samsudin memberitahu, bayaran dividen berkenaan diperoleh setelah ditolak elaun rugi terjejas bersih ke atas aset kewangan, perbelanjaan pelaburan, perbelanjaan operasi dan caj berkanun serta bayaran dividen pengeluaran.

Tambahnya, ekuiti merupakan penyumbang terbesar kepada pendapatan pelaburan kasar KWSP yang mewakili 45.45 peratus bagi 2010 iaitu berjumlah RM10.94 bilion berbanding RM4.85 bilion pada 2009 dengan peningkatan sebanyak 125.69 peratus.

Dividen Bank Rakyat 15 peratus untuk tahun 2010

2011-02-20T14:27:00.000+08:00

KUALA LUMPUR – Bank Kerjasama Rakyat Malaysia Bhd. (Bank Rakyat) mengumumkan dividen tunai sebanyak 15 peratus yang akan dibayar pada Isnin ini.

Berita baik kepada seramai 794,199 ahli yang terdiri daripada individu dan koperasi itu diumumkan oleh Menteri Perdagangan Dalam Negeri, Koperasi dan Kepenggunaan, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

“Sebanyak RM299 juta dividen tunai itu akan dibayar kepada semua ahli pada 22 Februari nanti,” katanya pada sidang akhbar di sini semalam bagi mengumumkan Prestasi Kewangan Bank Rakyat dan Dividen bagi tahun berakhir 31 Disember 2009.

Dana Public Ittikal vs KLCI (2006 - 2010)

2011-02-15T11:10:00.001+08:00

Public Ittikal memberi pulangan sebanyak 76% untuk tempoh 5 tahun bermula 1 Januari 2006 hingga 31 Disember 2010.

Public Ittikal Naik 54% Tempoh 2 Tahun (2009 - 2010)

2011-02-11T13:25:00.000+08:00

Prestasi dana Public Ittikal amat baik untuk tempoh 2 tahun lepas (Jan 2009 - Dis 2010), memberi pulangan sebanyak 54.7%.

Dana Public Ittikal Jatuh 35% Tahun 2008.

2011-02-05T13:38:00.000+08:00

Akibat krisis ekonomi seluruh dunia pada tahun 2008, nilai dana Public Ittikal turut mengalami kejatuhan sehingga -35%.

Dana Public Ittikal Naik 14% Tahun 2010

2011-02-02T13:17:00.000+08:00

Dana Public Ittikal naik 14% untuk tempoh setahun 2010, iaitu lebih rendah berbanding indeks KLCI, tapi lebih baik berbanding dividen+bonus ASB (7.625%).

Harga Emas Jatuh 4% Bulan Januari 2011

2011-02-01T13:04:00.000+08:00

Harga emas jatuh sebanyak 4% untuk bulan Januari 2011.

Harga Emas Naik 1000% (1975 - 2010)

2011-01-27T12:54:00.000+08:00

Yang menariknya, harga emas hanya naik 10 kali ganda sejak 1975 hingga 2010, iaitu untuk tempoh 25 tahun.

Dividen Tabung Haji 2010 sebanyak 5.5 peratus

2011-01-26T14:20:00.000+08:00

KUALA LUMPUR: Lembaga Tabung Haji Malaysia hari ini mengumumkan pembayaran bonus 5.5 peratus bagi 2010 berjumlah RM1.33 bilion.

Pengerusinya, Tan Sri Abi Musa Asa'ari Mohamed Nor, berkata peningkatan pembayaran bonus 24 peratus itu adalah berikutan prestasi kewangan yang lebih baik Tabung Haji pada tahun lalu.

Emas Naik 20% Tahun 2010

2011-01-20T12:47:00.001+08:00

Tahun 2010, harga emas naik sekitar 23%, setanding dengan pulangan indeks KLCI.

Pulangan Easy-ASB 2011 melebihi 41%

2011-01-14T19:03:00.002+08:00

Pakej Easy-RHB memang sangat menarik. Untuk 3 tahun pertama hanya perlu bayar interest, jadi ansuran bulanan sangat rendah. Hanya 2 tahun kemudian baru la bayar dgn principal skali. Locking period 5 tahun.

Berdasarkan dividen ASB 2010 7.5 sen dan bonus 1.25 sen, jumlah keseluruhan dividen 7.625%, Easy-ASB akan memberi pulangan 41%. Berikut pengiraannya (untuk loan 100K, tempoh 20 tahun):

Kos bayaran bulanan, 450 x 12 = RM5400
Dividen 7.625% = RM7625
Peratus untung = (7625/5400) - 1 = 41.2%

Memang lumayan!!! Pelaburan risiko hampir zero, tapi pulangan yg sangat lumayan. Satu-satunya peluang pelaburan dalam dunia yg tiada tandingan setakat ini, yg memberi peluang kpd pelabur kecil-kecilan. Apa tunggu lagi. Sekarang ni Easy-RHB ada promosi. Ada hadiah beg untuk loan 100K ke atas, selagi stok masih ada.

Harga Emas 10 Tahun Naik 500% (2000 - 2010)

2011-01-10T12:42:00.000+08:00

Harga emas naik mendadak sejak 10 tahun yang lepas iaitu 500%.

Pakej Easy-ASB Terkini oleh RHB Bank

2011-01-09T07:53:00.001+08:00

Easy-ASB

Easy-ASB - ASB Financing

Invest for your future the easy way. Enjoy low monthly installments for the 1st five years when you invest in Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB) units. No upfront payment needed. To apply just flash your MyKad.

Unique features:

No documentations required
On-the-spot approval and disbursement in less than 10 minutes
Low repayment for the first 5 years
Low initial monthly installment amounts from less than RM65 per month
Full principal and interest repayment for the subsequent 5 to 20 years
Attractive annual dividends and return on your investments

Benefits:

Get the Easy Visa Debit Card with the approved loan
Convenient monthly repayment through standing instruction
Earn 1 lucky draw entry with approved loan

Product Features

Interest Rate	Term Loan: BLR - 1.0%p.a
Loan Tenure	Minimum 10 years (including first 5 years of interest servicing) Maximum 25 years (including first 5 years of interest servicing)
Loan Amount	Minimum RM10,000 Maximum RM200,000
Margin of Advance	100%
Mode of Repayment	Standing Instruction
Custodian Fee	RM200
Exit Fee	3% of approved loan amount if settled within the first 3 years

Easy-ASB Repayment Schedule

Loan Amount (RM)	Interest only repayment for first 5 years (RM)	Monthly repayment amount for subsequent years (RM)
Loan Amount (RM)	Interest only repayment for first 5 years (RM)	5 Years	10 Years	15 Years	20 Years
10,000	45.01	190.59	108.04	81.15	68.16
20,000	90.03	380.68	215.58	161.80	135.83
30,000	135.04	570.77	323.11	242.45	203.49
40,000	180.05	760.86	430.65	323.10	271.16
50,000	225.07	950.95	538.19	403.75	338.82
60,000	270.08	1,141.04	645.73	484.41	406.48
70,000	315.10	1,331.13	753.27	565.06	474.15
80,000	360.11	1,521.22	860.80	645.71	541.81
90,000	405.12	1,711.31	968.34	726.36	609.48
100,000	450.14	1,901.40	1,075.88	807.01	677.14
110,000	495.15	2,091.49	1,183.42	887.66	744.80
120,000	540.16	2,281.58	1,290.96	968.31	812.47
130,000	585.18	2,471.67	1,398.49	1,048.96	880.13
140,000	630.19	2,661.76	1,506.03	1,129.61	947.80
150,000	675.21	2,851.85	1,613.57	1,210.26	1,015.46
160,000	720.22	3,041.94	1,721.11	1,290.91	1,083.12
170,000	765.23	3,232.03	1,828.65	1,371.57	1,150.79
180,000	810.25	3,422.12	1,936.18	1,452.22	1,218.45
190,000	855.26	3,612.21	2,043.72	1,532.87	1,286.12
200,000	900.27	3,802.30	2,151.26	1,613.52	1,353.78

Repayment table above does not include Group Reducing Term Assurance (GRTA)
For more information on how to protect your investment through GRTA, kindly contact us.

*Terms & Conditions apply

Disclaimer Statement

The Master Prospectus of the unit trust funds of ASNB dated June 30, 2009, has been registered with the Securities Commission and is available at any office of ASNB and its agents. Units will be issued upon receipt of the registration form as enclosed in the Master Prospectus. Before investing, please read and understand the content of the Master Prospectus. Total return on the investments may go down as well as up. Past performances of the unit trust funds of ASNB are not guarantees of future performances. Before investing, kindly consider the fees and charges involved.

Carta Harga Emas 5 Tahun 2000 - 2005

2011-01-03T12:35:00.000+08:00

Harga emas naik sekitar 80% untuk tempoh 5 tahun dari 2000 hingga 2005.

Pengiraan Dividen dan Bonus ASB

2010-12-31T05:43:00.000+08:00

Cara pengiraan dividen dan bonus ASB adalah berdasarkan baki minimum bulanan (BMB), iaitu baki terendah bulanan dari 1hb hingga hari terakhir bulan tersebut.

Sebagai contoh:

Kadar pengagihan pendapatan dan bonus ASB yang diumumkan bagi tahun berakhir 2008 adalah seperti berikut:-

Pengagihan Pendapatan 7%
Bonus 1.75%

(a) Pengagihan Pendapatan

Pengiraan pengagihan pendapatan adalah berdasarkan kepada baki terendah pada setiap bulan untuk jangkamasa 12 bulan ataupun setahun. Untuk mendapat pengagihan pendapatan penuh pada bulan tersebut, pelaburan tambahan mestilah dilakukan pada 01 haribulan pada bulan tersebut dan dikekalkan sehingga hujung bulan. Sekiranya pelaburan tambahan dilakukan selepas tarikh tersebut, perolehan pengagihan pendapatan hanya akan dikira untuk bulan ke hadapannya.

Contoh pengiraan pengagihan pendapatan bagi tahun berakhir 2008:-

Jumlah *BMB dari bulan Januari 2008 hingga Disember 2008 x KADAR
12 Bulan

* BMB adalah Baki Minimum Bulanan dan merujuk kepada baki yang terendah di antara 1hb hingga hujung bulan bagi setiap bulan
* Baki minimum bagi setiap bulan akan ditentukan terlebih dahulu mulai Januari, 2008 sehingga Disember, 2008 (12 bulan).
* Baki-baki minimum tersebut akan dicampurkan kesemuanya dan dibahagi dengan 12 (jumlah bulan dalam setahun) bagi mendapatkan purata baki minimum
tahunan.
* Purata baki minimum tahunan yang diperolehi akan didarabkan dengan kadar pengagihan pendapatan yang diisytiharkan.

(b) Bonus

Pengiraan bonus pula adalah berdasarkan kepada purata baki terendah bulanan untuk jangkamasa 10 tahun ataupun 120 bulan terdahulu.

Contoh pengiraan bonus bagi tahun berakhir 2008 :-

Jumlah *BMB dari bulan Januari 1999 hingga Disember 2008 X KADAR
120 Bulan

* BMB adalah Baki Minimun Bulanan dan merujuk kepada baki yang terendah di antara 1hb hingga hujung bulan bagi setiap bulan
* Baki minimum bulanan selama 10 tahun bermula dari Januari 1999 hingga Disember 2008 (120 bulan) dicampurkan kesemuanya dan dibahagikan dengan
120 bagi mendapatkan purata baki minimum untuk tempoh 10 tahun.
* Purata baki minimum 10 tahun yang diperolehi didarabkan dengan kadar bonus yang diisytiharkan.

Nota: Sebenarnya cara pengiraan dividen dan bonus asb ini turut dinyatakan dalam penyata tahunan yang dihantar kepada pelabur setiap tahun. Jadi pastikan alamat semasa dalam daftar asnb adalah yang terkini.

ASB Loan by CIMB

2010-12-28T05:34:00.001+08:00

ASB Financing

Use this term loan facility to buy ASB units. While you are servicing the loan, you'll be earning the annual dividends and bonuses from your ASB investment which you can use to partly pay for the subsequent year loan repayments. It's an affordable, convenient and smart way to make your money work harder.

Features and benefits:
	Maximum loan amount of up to RM200,000.
	High financing margin.
	Low interest rates.
	Flexible loan tenures.
	Low handling fees.
	Insurance coverage.

Eligibility:
	All eligible ASB investors under ASNB guidelines.
	Bumiputra only.
	Individuals aged 18 years and above.
	For student & unemployed applicant, a guarantor with adequate repayment capacity is to be obtained.

Requirements:

Applicant is required to submit the compulsory documents as follow:

Photocopy of NRIC

Photocopy of ASB passbook (1st & 2nd page)

Evidence of income

Definition of evidence of income:

For wage earner - Latest 1 month salary slip / latest 3 months payment voucher (if salary is paid through payment voucher)

For self-employed / businessman: - Only ONE of the following

	Latest 3 months current account / savings account statement
	Statement of interest earned and received from FDs placed for more than 12 months
	ASNB dividend statement
	Latest 3 months Tabung Haji account statement.

All eligible ASB investors under ASNB guidelines

Package 1: BLR - 1.65% p.a. throughout the loan tenure Package 2: 4.65% p.a. fixed for the first 2 years, BLR - 1.65% p.a. thereafter

BLR as at July 2010: 6.30%

Click here to view the ASB Financing Repayment Table

Products/Items

Charges

ASNB

Documentation Fee

RM100

Letter of Offer - Stamping

RM10

Letter of Guarantee and Indemnity - Stamping (if any)

RM10

ASB Loan Islamic by Maybank

2010-12-25T08:29:00.000+08:00

ASB Financing-i

ASB Financing-i is another form of term financing to purchase ASB unit trust based on Shariah principles of Bay’Al-Inah (sales with immediate repurchase)

Valid till 30 June 2011

Eligibility

Individuals who are between the ages of 18 and 60 years old
Bumiputera

Loan Amount

Min loan amount : RM10,000
Max loan amount : Up to RM400,000 per borrower, at any one time including the balance outstanding of the existing ASB loans (if any), or up to the maximum investment amount allowed by ASNB, whichever lower

Margin of Advance

For loan amount up to RM200,000

Up to 100% of nominal value of ASB units
Up to 105%, inclusive of the GASBRTT

For loan amount above RM200,000, at any one time

Up to 95% of nominal value of ASB units
Up to 100%, inclusive of the GASBRTT

Loan Tenure

Up to 25 years OR
Up to age 60, whichever is earlier

Pricing

Selling Price Rate/Ceiling Rate fixed at

BLR + 4.0% or 10%, whichever is higher
* Competitive effective profit rates as per ASB Loan Conventional interest rates, provided it should not exceed the fixed selling price rate

Pricing

Loan below 30,000
BLR - 1.35% (1st 3 years)
BLR - 1.30% (thereafter)
Loan RM30,000 & above
BLR - 1.65% (throughout loan tenure)

View the monthly instalment repayment schedule

Repayment Frequency

Monthly

Repayment Option

Single installment only

Mode of Installment Payment

Standing Instruction (SI)

ASB Income Distribution & Bonus Earned

Automatically credited into the respective ASB unit holder's account
ASB financial year ends December 31

Required Documents

New ASB customers
1. Application form
2. Photocopy I/C
3. Photocopy of latest 3 months pay slip (only for financing above RM50,000)
Existing ASB unitholder customers
1. Application form
2. Photocopy I/C
3. Photocopy of ASB passbook

Dividen ASB Tahun 2010 7.5 sen dan Bonus 1.25 sen

2010-12-21T14:15:00.000+08:00

KUALA LUMPUR: Para pemegang unit skim Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB) akan menerima dividen lebih tinggi 7.50 sen seunit bagi tahun kewangan berakhir 31 Ogos, 2010, iaitu lebih tinggi daripada 7.30 sen yang diisytiharkan pada tahun lepas.

Pemegang unit seramai 7.04 juta, yang kini memegang lebih 82.72 bilion unit ASB, akan turut menerima bonus 1.25 sen, yang sama dengan tahun lepas.

Pengerusi Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) Tan Sri Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid berkata bahagian agihan pendapatan itu melibatkan pembayaran keseluruhan RM5.93 bilion dan RM603.34 juta bagi bahagian bonus.

Sehingga Jumaat lepas, katanya skim itu mencatatkan pendapatan kasar RM6.58 bilion.

"Pendapatan dividen dari syarikat penerima pelaburan menyumbang RM3.27 bilion atau 50 peratus daripada pendapatan kasar dan keuntungan daripada jualan saham menyumbang RM2.78 bilion atau 42 peratus," katanya kepada pemberita pada majlis pengumuman dividen itu di sini.

Sementara itu, baki pendapatan 8.0 peratus atau RM0.53 bilion diperolehi daripada pelaburan di dalam instrumen jangka pendek dan pelaburan lain.

Presiden merangkap Ketua Pegawai Eksekutifnya, Tan Sri Hamad Kama Piah Che Othman berkata perolehan ASB tahun ini disokong oleh peningkatan sumbangan dividen anak-anak syarikatnya terutama Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank), iaitu sebanyak 55 sen berbanding 8.0 sen tahun sebelumnya.

Sumbangan dividen daripada Sime Darby Bhd pula menyusut kepada 10 sen daripada 20.3 sen pada 2009.

"Dari segi pendapatan tahun lepas, dividen adalah kurang daripada 50 peratus, tetapi tahun ini kita dapat mencapai 50 peratus hasil daripada pulangan dividen daripada syarikat-syarikat yang kita labur.

"Prestasi tahun ini agak bernasib baik walau pun Sime Darby membayar kurang daripada tahun lalu tetapi kita mendapat dividen yang tinggi daripada Maybank yang telah beransur pulih," katanya.

Ditanya mengenai prestasi Sime Darby yang kini menyusut, Hamad Kama Piah berkata, "Kita sentiasa mengharapkan prestasi syarikat-syarikat kita akan bertambah baik. Kalau kita lihat prestasi Sime Darby sendiri mereka telah menganggarkan keadaan akan lebih baik pada masa hadapan dan kita harapkan ini dapat membantu kita mendapat pulangan yang lebih baik." - BERNAMA

Keajaiban Compounded Interest

2010-12-07T17:17:00.000+08:00

Albert Enstein pernah mengatakan COMPOUNDED INTEREST adalah “The eigth wonder of the world” atau “Keajaiban ke-8 dunia”. Jadi, apakah yang dimaksudkan dengan istilah compounded interest ini?

Secara ringkasnya, ia adalah nilai terkumpul yang akan diperolehi untuk tempoh tertentu dengan kadar faedah yang tertentu. Sebagai contoh, jika anda menyimpan wang secara simpanan tetap atau “fixed deposit” di bank sebanyak RM1,000 dengan kadar faedah 4% setahun, berapakah nilai terkumpul yang akan anda perolehi selepas 10 tahun.

Menggunakan formula M x (1 + f)^t anda akan memperolehi 1000 x (1 + 0.04)^10 iaitu sebanyak RM1480, kenaikan 48% daripada modal asal.

M = Modal

f = Kadar faedah setahun

t = Tempoh dalam tahun

^ = Simbol gandaan

Perhatikan wang terkumpul yang akan diperoleh jika modal RM1,000.00 disimpan dengan dengan kadar faedah berlainan dan tempoh dilanjutkan sehingga 30 tahun.

Kadar Faedah: Wang terkumpul

4%: RM3243
5%: RM4322
8%: RM10,063
10%: RM17,449
12%: RM29,960
15%: RM66,218
18%: RM143,371
22%: RM389,758
27%: RM1,300,504

Fakta menariknya, hanya Warren Buffett mampu mengekalkan kadar faedah 21.5% setiap tahun selama 40 tahun dari 1965-2005. Peter Lynch 29% selama 13 tahun iaitu 1977-1990, dan di Malaysia pengurus dana CDAM, Tan Teng Boo sebanyak 19.3% untuk 16 tahun dari 1991-2006. ASB pula antara 7-8% setakat ini.

Dengan ASB pun jika anda memiliki RM50,000 hari ini dan menyimpannya selama 40 tahun dengan kadar faedah 8% setahun, anda akan memperolehi RM1,086,226 (anda akan bergelar jutawan ASB). Kelemahan COMPOUNDED INTEREST pula, ia memerlukan masa, jadi anda perlulah menyimpan seawal yang mungkin.

Angry Bird - iPhone Games Review

2010-11-25T15:38:00.000+08:00

Angry Birds is a wacky castle-destruction physics game where you fire birds through a slingshot in order to kill piggies. The art is funny, the difficulty curve is great, and the levels are clever.

With a title like Angry Birds, you just know that this game is going to be a bit on the wacky side. And while it certainly is wacky, Angry Birds is also a great physics puzzler that mixes strategy, brute force, and luck to create a solid casual game.

The “plot” exists to justify the game, but it’s a justification that’ll make you laugh. A bunch of evil green pigs have stolen the Angry Birds’ eggs. Naturally, the birds decide that the best way to take revenge is—not to get the eggs back, oh no—but to jump into a slingshot and hurl themselves at the pigs’ fortified castles. Each level has your birds and their slingshot on the left side of the screen, and the pigs in their castle on the right; your goal is to destroy all the little piggies.

Toppling each castle, however, is often a challenge. This is one of many things I love about Angry Birds: the levels are never impossible, but usually challenging. You’ll need to shoot your Angry Birds at just the right angle and intensity in order to strike the weak spot in the pigs’ castle. Controls are super-simple: touch the bird in the slingshot, then drag back and release to fling it. You can also pinch and zoom to move around the map, as there’s typically a large gap between your slingshot and the pigs. You get points for each bit of the castle you destroy, as well as 10,000 bonus points for each unused bird.

There’s more to it than just determining the castle’s weak spot, though that alone is often a challenge enough. While you start with simple red birds, as the game progresses new bird types are unlocked with special abilities that can me activated by tapping the screen mid-flight. Blue birds will burst into three separate, smaller birds cluster-bomb-style; yellow birds gain a sudden speed boost. Black birds explode, while white birds have exploding eggs. In each level, you’re given a preset collection of birds, so using each type to your advantage quickly becomes another necessary strategic element.

Each time you beat a level, you unlock the next one. I do wish that we had more than one new level unlocked at all times—it’s rather disheartening to be stuck just because you’re having problems with one particular scenario. The included 63 levels should last you a while. Replay value is decent; there’s a tiered ranking system that awards you 1-3 stars for your performance on each level, so you can try to improve that, but leaderboards are noticeably absent. I can’t help but feel that Angry Birds would really benefit from OpenFeint or something similar.

As for the art, well, it speaks for itself. The disgruntled-looking birds are very angry indeed, and the cute green piggies are, well, adorable. The cute and cartoony graphics offset the birds’ fierce anger rather nicely, and it’s hard not to grin while you’re playing. The music is a merry, mocking little ditty and while it does get old after a while, it also contributes to the mood of the game. (In other words: yep, Angry Birds is all nonsense.)

You won’t find any extras here. There are no leaderboards, no alternate modes, no multiplayer, and no achievements. Yet despite the lack of such frills, Angry Birds is one of the best physics-based games I’ve played on my iPod. Destroying the piggies’ castles is a huge amount of fun, the difficulty progression is spot-on, and the humor jammed into it is the icing on the cake. Yes, I’d like to see some more content, but it’s a good game nonetheless. If you like castle-destruction at all, be sure to give it a try.

Ebook: Panduan Menjana Wang Melalui Unit Trust

2010-11-11T14:49:00.000+08:00

Dapatkan ebook JANA WANG dengan UNIT TRUST - Panduan Pelaburan Unit Trust ini sekarang untuk mengetahui perkara-perkara penting, panduan-panduan serta tips untuk anda mengetahui bagaimana anda boleh memaksimumkan pendapatan dan wang anda serta mengelakkan kerugian dalam pelaburan.

Di dalam ebook ini, anda akan mempelajari dan mengetahui panduan serta tip-tip berkaitan pelaburan unit trust di Malaysia. Sekiranya anda :

	Mencari 'Dana Unit Trust berpotensi Untuk Pelaburan' melalui internet, suratkhabar, perunding unit trust dan lain-lain dengan cara yang menjimatkan masa dan wang anda
	Membuat persediaan dengan melakukan kajian dan analisis terhadap pasaran unit trust dan prestasi dana-dana unit trust sebelum membuat pelaburan
	Menggunakan khidmat perunding unit trust untuk mengetahui 'Harga Pasaran Semasa' serta bersusah payah membelek surat khabar setiap hari
	Bersesak-sesak di jalan raya dan kaunter untuk urusan pemindahan Wang Simpanan KWSP anda untuk pelaburan unit trust
	Memilih pakej pinjaman pelaburan yang perlu dipertimbangkan untuk pelaburan unit trust
	Merancang serta berkeinginan untuk menjana kewangan anda untuk persediaan pada masa akan datang
	dan banyak lagi panduan serta tip-tip yang membantu anda dalam pelaburan unit trust bagi memaksimakan $$$$$$$ anda

JANGAN TUNGGU LAGI, DAPATKAN EBOOK INI SEKARANG!

iPhone 4 Review

2010-11-04T15:34:00.003+08:00

Apple's launch of the iPhone 4 has seen the greatest excitement for a new phone ever - and with HD video recording, a super high-res screen and ridiculously slim dimensions, it's not hard to see why.

But things are a little different now - not only was the iPhone 3GS something of a non-update to the iPhone range, but there are finally decent alternatives in the smartphone market, with the HTC Desire and Samsung Galaxy S leading the Android fight right to Apple's door.

Add to that the first major leak of an Apple product a couple of months before launch, and suddenly the iPhone 4 has a lot to do to impress.

At least Apple has unleashed the big guns for this effort - before we get into the headline specs, the design itself is a massive talking point on its own.

Jobs' chats on stage to unveil a new iPhone might have got a little repetitive (best this, magical that etc) but this is the first time since the first iPhone way back in January 2007 that we've seen a variation on the standard iPhone design.

Gone is the traditional curved back and plastic exterior with slightly chunky dimensions; in is a chassis that's only 9.3mm thin at its thickest point and a new stainless steel and glass industrial design.

If you're an iPhone fan, there's a good chance you won't like the look of the iPhone the first time you pick it up - it's the same weight as the iPhone 3GS at 137g, but it's a lot smaller, with dimensions of 115.2mm x58.6 mm x 9.3mm, so it feels like a much weightier and compact model.

The edges are stainless steel, apparently forged by winged unicorns in an iceberg (or something) to be 10 times stronger than 'normal' steel.

The front and back of the phone are made of glass, which has also been treated to be a lot stronger than the normal variety we're used to seeing through and drinking out of.

This claim holds up - not only did we feel the need to drop the phone onto the floor a few times to test, someone nameless of the TechRadar team also knocked it out (an admittedly low level) window onto concrete - and not a scratch.

If you're the protective type, then you can buy an official 'Bumper' for the iPhone 4, which encases it in a small ring of rubber, if you haven't bought the handset only for its slim lines.

The chassis shape isn't the only different thing with the iPhone 4 - the whole ethos has been tweaked. For instance, no longer is there a slightly plasticky rocker switch to control volume on the left-hand side, as it's now two discrete metal buttons with '+' and '-' written on.

The volume silencer rocker switch is above too, but that has also undergone the uber-metallic treatment.

The top of the phone still holds the headphone jack, and the power/lock key. However, the 3.5mm port is now flush to the chassis, and the power button feels much nicer to hit than before.

There's also a separate microphone for noise cancelling next to this as well - we imagine a few people will be pushing paperclips in there before they realise that it's not for the SIM card slot.

The right-hand side of the chassis is still blank - no camera button sadly, which would have been nice given the extra effort Apple has clearly put into overhauling the photography system.

Still, sleek is clearly still 'in' at the Cupertino HQ, and we can't say we blame the designers when you look at the lines.

Actually, that's not true - the micro-SIM slot is hidden away here, rather than on the top. It's the same pokey key thing/slot system as before, but this time the SIM card is much smaller - Apple says to make more room for stuff inside, we say it's just to shake things up a little bit. Either way, we bet micro-SIMs become the norm before very long in all phones.

The bottom of the phone has the familiar Apple connector for charging and connecting and docking etc, and is flanked by another more microphone-y looking microphone slot and the speaker.

The front still has that one iconic button, which is much nicer to press in the new chassis, it has to be said.

Overall, the design might not impress some people the first time they pick up the phone - a number of people we showed the phone to grimaced a little bit the first time they handled it.

It's a sharp and weighty-feeling phone, make no mistake - and it doesn't sit as comfortably in the hand as well as other iPhones of the past have.

But it feels premium, and at up to £600, it had better - that's a lot to pay when you consider you could get a 42-inch 1080p LCD for £200 less these days.

In the box

At least Apple has remained consistent when it comes to the packaging - apart from a new graphic on the front to make the new iPhone 4 look more mysterious, there's not a lot different to the older iPhones.

So that means: a simple Apple USB cable, a three-pin plug adaptor and some headphones. The latter is the same old set from the year before: hands free and a function button on the cord, but slightly poor quality compared to a range of other buds on the market.

Oh, you also get that little tool for removing the micro-SIM card as well - but Apple should just save itself some money and stick a paperclip in there, as 99.99% of people will lose that little thing, panic, then improvise anyway. Well, we have. Twice.

ASB Loan by Maybank

2010-11-01T08:25:00.000+08:00

ASB Financing

A term financing to purchase ASB unit trust

Valid till 30 June 2011

Eligibility

Individuals who are between the ages of 18 and 60 years old
Bumiputera

Loan Amount

Min loan amount : RM10,000
Max loan amount : Up to RM400,000 per borrower, at any one time including the balance outstanding of the existing ASB loans (if any), or up to the maximum investment amount allowed by ASNB, whichever lower

Margin of Advance

For loan amount up to RM200,000

Up to 100% of nominal value of ASB units
Up to 105%, inclusive of the GASBRTA

For loan amount above RM200,000, at any one time

Up to 95% of nominal value of ASB units
Up to 100%, inclusive of the GASBRTA

Loan Tenure

Up to 25 years or
Up to age 60, whichever is earlier

Pricing

Loan below 30,000
BLR - 1.35 % (for 1st 3 years)
BLR - 1.30 % (thereafter)
Loan RM30,000 & above
BLR - 1.65% (throughout loan tenure)

View the monthly instalment repayment schedule

Repayment Frequency

Monthly

Repayment Option

Single installment only

Mode of Installment Payment

Standing Instruction (SI)

ASB Income Distribution & Bonus Earned

Automatically credited into the respective ASB unit holder's account
ASB financial year ends December 31

Required Documents

New ASB customers
1. Application form
2. Photocopy I/C
3. Photocopy of latest 3 months pay slip (for financing above RM50,000 only)
Existing ASB unitholder customers
1. Application form
2. Photocopy I/C
3. Photocopy of ASB passbook

ASB Loan By RHB

2010-10-26T06:14:00.000+08:00

Overview

At RHB Bank, we offer you ASB Financing to finance the purchase of your ASB units. Enjoy high margin financing, low interest rates, flexible loan tenures and optional insurance coverage, financed by us.

For further information, do give us a call at 03 - 9206 8118 or visit our nearest branches.

Product Features :

INTEREST RATES	Term Loan (TL) RM10,000 to RM49,999 without GRTA BLR – 1.25% RM10,000 to RM49,999 with GRTA BLR – 1.40% RM50,000 & above without GRTA BLR – 1.40% RM50,000 & above with GRTA BLR – 1.55% ASB Interest Only Package (ASB5) BLR – 1.00% Overdraft (OD) against ASB / ASW BLR - 1.00%
LOAN TENURE	1 year to 20 years or 60 years old whichever is earlier
LOAN AMOUNT	Min. RM10,000 Max. Up to individual's ASB investment limit
MARGIN OF ADVANCE (MOA) TL FOR ADDITIONAL / NEW ASB INVESTMENT	Up to 100% + 5% (GRTA)
TL AND OD FOR PERSONAL CONSUMPTION ON UNENCUMBERED ASB CERTIFICATE	95% of ASB certificate
INSURANCE	Optional, financed by Bank
MODE OF REPAYMENT	Standing Instruction (SI)
CUSTODIAN FEE	Term Loan (TL) RM100 Term Loan (TL)/ Overdraft (OD) against unencumbered ASB certificate RM150 per certificate
DOCUMENTS REQUIRED	Photocopy of identity card Photocopy of ASB passbook 1 month pay slip/other proof of income e.g. bank account statement
EXIT FEE	1st 2 years 3% of approved loan amount 3rd to 5th year 1% of approved loan amount if settled by liquidation of certificates. However, NO exit fee if settled by own funds from 3rd year to 5th year.

PELABURAN ASB ATAU SKIM AMANAH SAHAM BUMIPUTERA

2010-10-24T10:54:00.000+08:00

MAKLUMAT TABUNG


Nama Tabung	SKIM AMANAH SAHAM BUMIPUTERA (ASB)
Jenis	Pendapatan
Kategori	Ekuiti
Tarikh Pelancaran	2 Januari 1990
Objektif	Untuk menjana pulangan jangka panjang yang kompetitif dan konsisten kepada pemegang-pemegang unit di samping memastikan pengekalan modal pada tahap toleransi risiko yang minimum.
Pelabur Sasaran	Pelabur yang memahami risiko dan pulangan pelaburan serta menjangkakan manfaat dari pertumbuhan jangka panjang tabung hasil pelaburan semula pengagihan pendapatan (sekiranya ada) dan penerimaan pendapatan (sekiranya ada) ke atas pelaburan mereka.

Kelayakan	Bumiputera Malaysia. Akaun Dewasa (18 tahun ke atas) Akaun Remaja ( ibu bapa atau penjaga sah berumur tidak kurang 18 tahun yang melabur bagi pihak remaja berumur 12 tahun hingga 18 tahun ke bawah).

Pengurus Pelaburan	Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB)

MAKLUMAT URUSNIAGA

	Buku Pelaburan Sijil
Harga Seunit	RM 1.00
Bentuk Pelaburan	Buku Pelaburan Sijil
Pelaburan Permulaan Minimum	Buku Pelaburan - 10 unit
Pelaburan Tambahan Minimum	Buku Pelaburan - 1 unit Sijil - Gandaan 1,000 unit
	Buku Pelaburan - 1 unit Sijil - Gandaan 1,000 unit
Pelaburan Maksimum	Akaun Dewasa - 200,000 unit Akaun Remaja - 10,000 unit
	Akaun Dewasa - 200,000 unit Akaun Remaja - 10,000 unit
Saiz Tabung	Tiada had.
Caj Jualan	Tiada
Caj Jualan Balik	Tiada
Pembayaran Jualan Balik	Serta-merta
Tempoh Bertenang	Tiada
Tahun Kewangan Berakhir	31 Disember

PRESTASI TABUNG

Tahun Berakhir 31 Disember	2007	2008	2009
Kadar Pengagihan Pendapatan Seunit (sen)	8.00	7.00	7.30
Bonus Seunit (sen)	1.00	1.75	1.25

Sumber: Petikan dari laporan tahunan Skim Amanah Saham Bumiputera yang telah diaudit oleh juruaudit luaran yang bertauliah.

Easy-ASB: ASB Loan by RHB

2010-10-22T08:01:00.000+08:00

Easy-ASB - ASB Financing

Unique features:

No documentations required
On-the-spot approval and disbursement in less than 10 minutes
Interest only repayment for first 5 years
Low initial monthly installment amounts from less than RM65 per month
Full principal and interest repayment for the subsequent 5 to 20 years
Attractive annual dividends and return on your investments

Benefits:

Get the Easy Visa Debit Card with the approved loan
Convenient monthly repayment through standing instruction
Earn 1 lucky draw entry with approved loan

*Terms & Conditions apply

Product Features

Interest Rate	Term Loan: BLR - 1.0%p.a (5.3% at current BLR 6.3%)
Loan Tenure	Minimum 10 years (including first 5 years of interest servicing) Maximum 25 years (including first 5 years of interest servicing)
Loan Amount	Minimum RM10,000 Maximum RM 100,000
Margin of Advance	100%
Mode of Repayment	Standing Instruction
Custodian Fee	RM200
Exit Fee	3% of approved loan amount if settled within the first 3 years

Easy-ASB Repayment Schedule

Loan Amount (RM)	Interest only repayment for first 5 years (RM)	Monthly repayment amount for subsequent years (RM)
Loan Amount (RM)	Interest only repayment for first 5 years (RM)	5 Years	10 Years	15 Years	20 Years
10,000	45.01	190.59	108.04	81.15	68.16
20,000	90.03	380.68	215.58	161.80	135.83
30,000	135.04	570.77	323.11	242.45	203.49
40,000	180.05	760.86	430.65	323.10	271.16
50,000	225.07	950.95	538.19	403.75	338.82
60,000	270.08	1,141.04	645.73	484.41	406.48
70,000	315.10	1,331.13	753.27	565.06	474.15
80,000	360.11	1,521.22	860.80	645.71	541.81
90,000	405.12	1,711.31	968.34	726.36	609.48
100,000	450.14	1,901.40	1,075.88	807.01	677.14

Repayment table above does not include Group Reducing Term Assurance (GRTA)
For more information on how to protect your investment through GRTA, kindly contact us.

Jutawan ASB

2010-09-03T22:41:00.000+08:00

Berapa ramai pelabur yang telah menjadi jutawan dengan melabur dalam ASB? Untuk menjawab persoalan ni, boleh rujuk laporan tahunan asb bagi tahun kewangan berakhir 31 disember 2009.

Dalam laporan tersebut seramai 7,324 orang pelabur mempunyai pegangan unit sebanyak 500K ke atas. Jika hanya 10% daripada kalangan pelabur ini mempunyai pegangan unit melebihi 1 juta, maka bilangan jutawan adalah sekitar 73 orang. Tapi saya percaya bilangan jutawan adalah sekitar 50% ke atas. Ini kerana bilangan terkumpul pegangan unit bagi kategori pelabur ini melebihi 4.6 bilion. Secara purata setiap pelabur dalam kategori ini mempunyai pegangan unit asb melebihi 630K.

Anda pula dalam kategori mana?

Pulangan Easy-ASB 30%

2010-09-02T07:43:00.001+08:00

Antara pelaburan yg paling selamat dan memberi pulangan yg lumayan adalah asb. Tapi kena tau caranya. Percaya atau tidak, melabur dalam asb melalui loan asb akan memberi pulangan sehingga 30%. Bagaimana? Mudah sahaja iaitu dengan melabur menggunakan pakej Easy-RHB yang ditawarkan oleh RHB. Dengan pakej ini, pelabur hanya membayar interest untuk 5 tahun pertama.

Pengiraannya:
Loan: 100K
Tempoh: 5 (bayar interest sahaja) + 20 (termasuk principal).
Bulanan: RM450 (5 tahun pertama), RM677 (20 tahun kemudian).

Kos setahun: 450 x 12 = RM5400
Dividen 7%: 100K x 7% = RM7000
Peratus untung: (7000/5400) - 1 = 30%

Setakat ni saya belum jumpa sebarang pelaburan yg boleh memberi pulangan sehingga 30% dengan risiko yg hampir zero. Malah melebihi 30% sebab dividen asb buat masa ini sekitar 7.5 sen atau lebih. Jadi kalau anda layak dan mampu, apa tunggu lagi.

Yg lebih menarik, locking period pakej easy-asb ni hanyalah 5 tahun. Maknanya selepas genap 5 tahun, ada pilihan untuk terminate. Kemudian apply semula supaya dapat pakej yg bayar interest sahaja.

ASNB declares dividend 6.35 sen for ASW2020 in 2010

2010-08-09T14:34:00.000+08:00

KUALA LUMPUR: Amanah Saham Nasional Bhd (ASNB), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB), today announced an income distribution of 6.35 sen per unit for Amanah Saham Wawasan 2020 (ASW 2020) for the financial year ending Aug 31, 2010.

PNB chairman Tun Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid said the income distribution will involve a total payout of RM777.53 million, up 32.30 per cent, compared with the previous year's total payment of RM587.70 million.

He said 892,825 unitholders, who currently hold 13.1 billion ASW 2020 units, will benefit from the payout.

For the 11 months between Sept 6, 2009 and Aug 6, 2010, the fund received a total of 20,226 new account holders, while net investments received during the year increased by 2.09 billion or 18.98 per cent, he told a media conference.

As of Aug 6, ASW 2020 recorded a gross income of RM887.05 million, profit from the sale of shares contributed RM454.57 million or 51.20 per cent, dividend income from investee companies totalled RM290.99 million or 32.80 per cent and RM141.49 million or 16 per cent is derived from investment in short-term instruments and other income, he said.

Ahmad Sarji said the income distribution calculation this year will be based on the average monthly minimum balance held throughout the financial year from Sept 1, 2009 until Aug 31, 2010.

The income distribution will be reinvested in the form of new units and will automatically be credited into the unitholders' account on Sept 1, he said.

All ASW 2020 transactions will be suspended from Aug 25 to Aug 31 to facilitate the income distribution calculation.

Unitholders will be able to update their accounts at ASNB head office; ASNB branch offices; or ASNB agents from Sept 1.

Investors who participated in ASW 2020 through the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) Members Investment Scheme will have their income distribution credited directly into their EPF accounts.

ASW 2020 unitholders will receive their income distribution statements together with the fund's annual report beginning mid-October.

ASW 2020 is an all-Malaysian fixed price equity fund. Fifty-one per cent of its shares are for Bumiputeras while 49 per cent for non-Bumiputeras aged six months and above. - BERNAMA