‘Ghosts’ Curb Business Action in Singapore : Keyword: Many firms refuse to launch projects in the month that the spirits of the dead are supposedly roaming free.

About this time each year, some of the wealthiest clients of private bankers in Singapore give fresh investment ideas the cold shoulder, no matter how potentially lucrative.

It is the month of the “hungry ghosts,” when, according to Taoist traditions, the gates of hell open and the spirits of the dead are free to walk among the living--and sometimes create mischief.

“Few people will want to buy a dwelling or conclude a deal during the seventh lunar month (which this year is from July 30 to Aug. 27), when the spirits of the dead are said to roam free to seek repasts denied them during the rest of the year,” the Business Times newspaper said.

“Some people totally shelve decision making--they don’t even want any new ideas brought to them,” said Andrew Chan of Merrill Lynch International Bank.

“If they are compelled to make a decision, they won’t do it before consulting the numerologist.”

In the foreign exchange business, there is a coterie of dealers who are leery about trading aggressively during the seventh lunar month, dealers said.

“They find that the volatility during that time of the year can be really spooky,” said a technical analyst with a U.S. investment fund.

“Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait and the Soviet coup to topple (Mikhail) Gorbachev took place at that time of the year,” he said.

The Festival of the Hungry Ghosts is an annual affair in Singapore, where 77% of the 3 million residents are Chinese.

A range of festivities, including public dinners, street operas and more recently Chinese pop concerts, are held to entertain and appease the spirits.

All over the island during the lunar month, Singaporean Chinese buy and burn stacks of “hell money,” or mock bank notes, for their ancestors--to ensure that they are financially secure in the other world.