The stars may not have it, market regulator cautions astrologers - New Straits Times

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it.

2010/02/15

NEW DELHI While astrology may be a popular ancient science predicting the future and one's luck, India's stock market regulator has cautioned investors against star-gazing to avoid financial disasters. "Do not be guided by astrological predictions on share prices and market movements," said the Mumbai-based Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

Disturbed by the proliferation of unreliable investment gurus, Sebi, in its latest caution note to investors, has listed astrology websites among a range of other financial advisory portals and agencies which offer unprofessional tips to potential investors.

"Investors should realise that when they follow such advice, they are exposing themselves to undue risk in using unconfirmed information available on such websites, blogs, astrology predictions or advice," added the note.

But in India, where astrology is a revered science among many believers, Sebi's warning pill may be a little hard to digest.

"Many people are consulting (financial astrologers) and getting good results. There are well-trained professionals who can predict the market trend," M. K. Kedar, director of courses at the Indian Council of Astrological Sciences told Bernama.

But he admitted that an increasing number of unqualified astrologers were spoiling the reputation of the business in India, who enter the industry with limited knowledge and dupe the people.

"More quacks are entering this market as it is becoming lucrative, every television station and newspaper entice these people who do not have sufficient knowledge in predicting the market," he added. -- BERNAMA

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.