Year of dragon raises hopes for stock rally

HONG KONG—The stock market will rally strongly in the second half of 2012, much like a dragon rising from the depths, according to a Hong Kong brokerage’s annual astrological predictions.

CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets released its annual feng shui index on Wednesday ahead of the Lunar New Year next week that marks the start of the year of the dragon.

CLSA said its index predicts that Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng Index will have a lackluster performance in the first half of the year.

Feng shui is the Chinese practice of arranging objects and choosing dates to improve luck. While the predictions are lighthearted, many people in this southern Chinese financial center carefully follow feng shui principles in the belief they will seriously boost their wealth.