Lai See | On the horns of a dilemma with CLSA's fung shui guide

It says something about the investment community that CLSA yesterday launched its 21st fung shui index. CLSA says it is the most eagerly anticipated of all its research reports, though you get the impression that the firm is slightly embarrassed by its success.

The report contains a number of warnings that it is a "tongue-in-cheek" report and should not be taken seriously. CLSA has tried to drop it. After 12 years, it decided enough was enough, only to bring it back four years later in 2009 due to client demand.

Interest is not just confined to Chinese investors, and it is rolled out at client functions around the world. So as a marketing tool, it has been a nice little earner. CLSA will no doubt have been flattered by the lame attempts at imitation by other houses.

But the interest it attracts seems counter-intuitive, given that the investment of millions of dollars was a serious business that required the application of careful analysis and assessment of companies, sectors, the economic environment and so on.

That is until you consider the findings of a survey that showed 86 per cent of funds (and their managers) underperformed their respective benchmark indices in the first year and 99 per cent of them had underperformed after five years.