Superstitious investors jittery as bad omen actor Cheng releases movie

Bulls beware. Adam Cheng Siu-chow is coming to a cinema near you.

The Hong Kong actor, whose every new television drama is said to herald a stock market crash, is returning to the big screen with a new release on April 4. And stock investors are scared stiff.

"It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. Many locals, especially retail investors, are very superstitious," said Ben Kwong Man-bun, chief operating officer at KGI Asia. "If everyone buys into this negative association and starts selling in panic, a sharp fall is inevitable."

The new movie, Saving General Yang, is based on the legendary generals of the famed Yang family during the early years of the Northern Song dynasty. Cheng plays the senior General Yang, who fought a battle to defend the Song's borders from foreign invaders.

The 66-year-old Cheng's tryst with infamy began in 1992, when TVB launched a drama series called The Greed of Man. Cheng played the role of Ting Hai, an actor who makes a killing by short-selling derivatives and stocks in a bear market. The Hang Seng Index fell up to 13 per cent while the show was on.

His bad influence on the index has been dubbed the "Ting Hai effect" since, and has proven largely true over the past decade. Cheng has appeared in some 17 television series since 1992. The market fell while 11 of them were on air.