I follow a few rules when investing in KLCI and I will post one that I commonly use in an enviroment like what we have currently. The enviroment that we have currently is what I describe as oblivious without a direction. The reason why I say that is because we follow almost every market sentiment from Europe to US to China to Asia and what it essentially means is we will have more downs than ups.

So how do you trade when China's PMI affects you, when US unemployment derail a good stock that you have picked or the Fed's announcement changes the course of the best pick you have and then there is also our political situation and the other sentiment of market. 

My answer is simple, play according to the tide and play according to the sentiment versus the best stock you have picked. 

Rule 1. In a poor market sentiment, pick a good stock that have performed well AT LEAST 2 Quarter in terms of Financial Result. Why 2 Quarter? Because 2 Quarter is also a measurement of GDP and Recession. 

if Rule 1 passes,

Rule 2. Check the stock for potential growth announcement, catalyst or beneficiary.

- Potential Growth  - eg announcement of coming projects will enable investors to calculate the potential topline growth

- Catalyst - eg Sale of a parcel of land or factory or asset with good profit. This is very important because this is instant money with little         to no risk especially when it is non-core assets that dont contribute to effective Operational profit

- Beneficiary - eg Extraordinary gain - Forex, FD Interest, low crude oil price. These are income above Operating Profit or in the case of low crude oil, may benefit the Operations directly esp in the case of logictic, or transpostation sector

if Rule 2 passes

Rule 3. So now with rule 1 and 2 out of the way, and you are sure that you hv picked a stock that is potential, at least from a financial stand point, the third rule needs to ensure that this pick can move when required. A simple due dilligence on previous 2 Quarters or more to see if the Chart reflects its performance. This I call expandability. Without this ability, a financial performing stock will just stay sideway with little or no movement. 

if Rule 3 passes

Rule 4. This is my favorite part of buying.  I may have 5 to 6 stocks at this point but I may only be able to afford 3 to 4 stocks in my list. Again here i would do a simple filter just according to the performing sector or stocks which hv broken 2 support would be a good choice. If plantation is the sector I will place more weigh and etc.

The queueing itself to buy follows a few simple rules. These rules only applies to a potential market which is currently bearish. Remember this: All market wants to recover at slightest opportunity however the negative market always outpace the positive one. 

How to queue in this enviroment?

- Never Queue before opening up to 10am - This queueing and buy and sell are feelers only. 

- 10am - 11am queue - This queue allows you to gauge the commitment of a stock or market. Check this against the market volume and /or a particular stock

-11am - 12.30pm queue - This are the more genuine queue to reflect trading for the day. Normally I use this to gauge the days closing and have at least 70% accuracy. The 30% inaccuracy, I would attribute to the mid day business news which may come out between 12.30pm to 3pm which may change the course of the market index.

Rule 5 This final rule may not sit well with many investors however this rule only applies to our current enviroment where there are a lot of confusion in the market. The rule states that you must sell when you have a gap up or margin of above 10% max 15% within the day at any point from buying within the day.