Ting Hai effect | |||||||||||
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Traditional Chinese | 丁蟹效應 | ||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 丁蟹效应 | ||||||||||
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Chiu Koon effect | |||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 秋官效應 | ||||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 秋官效应 | ||||||||||
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The Ting Hai effect , Adam Cheng effect or Chiu-Koon effect is a peculiar stock market phenomenon.[1] The phenomenon is observed that whenever Hong Kong actor Adam Cheng stars in a new television show, there is a sudden and unexplained drop in the stock market.[2] This is still a popular topic amongst stock brokers, years after the drama series Greed of Man was broadcast in Hong Kong in October 1992. The effect is named after Ting Hai (丁蟹), the main antagonist of the show, played by Cheng himself.
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In 1992 TVB aired the drama The Greed of Man, which featured some of the most popular actors and actresses of the time. The drama centred heavily around the stock market, and the schemes and plots of those who struck it rich in the market. Cheng, who played Ting Hai in the drama, made an immense fortune with his four sons by selling short derivatives and stocks during a bear market. Many people went broke, but the Ting family became richer and richer until an eventual defeat by the Fong family nemesis.[3]
Initially, the Ting Hai effect occurred whenever the TVB drama series Greed of Man or its loose sequel, Divine Retribution (世紀之戰), made by ATV was broadcast. Later, it was also observed that the effect occurs whenever a new drama show that Cheng stars in was aired.
There were a few times when the Ting Hai effect did not occur. In April 2006 when Bar Bender (潮爆大狀) premiered, there was a sudden rise in the Hang Seng index by 258 points.[2] Other big increases include the broadcast of The Conqueror's Story (楚漢驕雄), Legend of Chor Lau Heung (香帥傳奇), the Driving Power (非常外父).[5]
The Ting Hai effect has led to Adam Cheng attracting much press attention. Now, whenever a new show starring Adam Cheng is about to be broadcast, some stockbrokers and investors in Hong Kong become wary, even anticipating a drop in the market.
While some investors have argued that the effect is no more than a series of coincidences and amounts to nothing more than a self-fulfilling prophecy, the show's peculiar effect on the stock market is regarded by some as more than coincidence. It was also confirmed that Crédit Lyonnais wrote a report on this matter.
This strange phenomenon also created a career trough for Adam Cheng in Hong Kong during the 1990s, for the two over-the-air television stations in Hong Kong avoided using Cheng for its dramas, partly (if not completely) because they did not want to bear responsibility for a stock market crash.
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