For the third year we give our readers a chance to win a case of champagne. All you have to do is predict the level of the FinanceAsia 100, our Asian blue chip stock index, at the close of business on Friday, December 15.
For those who would like some historical perspective: in 2004 the index reached 1,279 on December 17 and in 2005 finished at 1,375 on December 16. During the last weeks of 2005 and in the early days of 2006 the index has surged and closed last week at 1,452.
If you would like to enter the competition, the closing date is January 31 and all entries should be sent to [email protected] . For help with your predictions, we advise you to look at this month's magazine supplement on the FA100, "A Guide to Asia's Blue Chip Companies". A copy of this can be obtained by emailing [email protected] and requesting it.
The index is now most heavily weighted to Korea (the biggest single country component with 22 companies) and Greater China (46 companies) and India (12 companies). So if you are bullish on the above, you ought to be bullish on the index as a whole.
The champagne will go to the person who gets nearest to the closing level (so long as their prediction is within 50 points of the actual closing level). Good luck with your predictions.