Wednesday 30 June 2021

June 2021 Updates

June 2021
 
Local Portfolio Value after market close (excluding USD and HKD)

S$142,981.25

Purchase

None

Sold

None

Dividends
 
MNACT @ $131.96
Netlink Trust @ $204
Ascendas Reit @ $534.85
OCBC @ $86.26 + partial scrips
MLT @ $216.10
ESR Reit @ $80
DBS @ $108
 
Total: $1,361.17 + partial OCBC scrips

Short-Term Transactions

1 x expired AMC Put 210604 24 with $1.06 premium
1 x expired AMC Put 210611 24 with $1.65 premium
1 x expired AMC Put 210618 31 with $1.60 premium
1 x expired AMC Put 210618 40 with $0.58 premium 
2 x expired AMC Put 210625 35 with $0.42 premium
1 x expired JD Put 210625 69 with $1.14 premium 
 
Sold 2 x AMC Put 210716 40 with $1.44 premium  

Summary

01 June 2021 STI Open: 3,187.23
30 June 2021 STI Close: 3,134.22
 
STI closed below its monthly opening for the 2nd consecutive month after 4 months for rise. It also dropped below last month's closing.
 
It could have been worse if not for today's jump in the share price of the 3 local banks after MAS signalled the possibility of dividend payouts reverting to pre-Covid levels. However this is subject to further stress test by MAS before anything will be confirmed.
 
For my SGD portfolio, there is a negligible (slight) drop in value with no transactions done. 

This month I received a total of S$1,361.17 in dividends + partial OCBC scrips.

Didn't make any transactions this month for this portfolio.
 
When I have no time to go through annual reports, I usually as a minimum, try to read the Chairman and CEO message in the reports.
 
Read the messages for MLT and MNACT annual reports last week. Gained some insights from the messages.
 
Have wanted to blog about the summarised results and some of my thoughts but didn't managed to do it so far.
 
Anyway in a nutshell MLT is impressive as usual while MNACT is less so. Outlook for the former is great while that of the latter is more uncertain.

For my Syfe Core Growth portfolio, I am seeing a higher month-on-month return so far with this month's reaching the highest based on TWR. However would be more meaningful to see the returns and review the portfolio when it turns one.
 
Have DCAed into this portfolio yesterday and plans to continue this strategy every month end.

For my USD portfolio, no transactions were made for this month.
 
Currently seeing a 260% paper profit for one of my counters. Will continue to let it run and monitor closely. It has been ranging in a tight band recently and has tested the resistance a number of times which should weaken the level.
 
Might have a chance to break out higher.
 
Collected S$903.23 of option premiums this month with the expiry of 7 Puts in AMC and JD.com.
 
Other than these, I have sold another two Puts this month for AMC, expiring 16/7/2021 with a strike price of $40 and premium of $1.44.
 
As seen above, I am making full use of the volatility in AMC to earn some income. I certainly don't mind if this continues.
 
Usually for far OTM Puts with near DTE, premium is usually quite lousy. But the volatility in this counter means one can continue to get decent premiums even for relatively safe options.

Moving forward I will continue to use options as part of my investment / trading tools to supplement my investable income. 

Although I have been saying that I have not touched cryptos yet, recently I realised I actually have a crypto!

And that is 1.750 of BAT, worth a grand total of USD 1.01 currently. Well at least that is something.

Wednesday 23 June 2021

Have You Taken Advantage of moomoo's June Promotion? (Updated 6th July 2021)

I started using moomoo back in April this year and the more I use it, the more I like the platform over the others.
 
Apart from the free Apple share and welcome bundle, there are so many tools to explore, updated news for a quick catch up, short courses to attend and a very interactive forum for discussion on your stocks with other users.
 
Another feature that I like is the ease of earning points to redeem stuffs like limited and peripheral products as well as Futu coupons.
 
Last month I've blogged about my redemption of a money box for my kids here. It took some delay due to Covid but finally the money box is here!
 

It might be still early to teach my kids about investment. But it's never too early to inculcate in them the importance of saving for a rainy day.

It took 9,888 points for me to redeem this money box (it has since been increased to 12,000 points) but like I mentioned above, it is not hard to earn the points.
 
It doesn't even requires frequent stock trading. In fact I only traded stocks 3 times so far since most of my transactions are in Options.
 
Just to share some tips on how I accumulated my points.
 
 
Try to complete the Ach. and Growth Tasks which are not hard at all. Also do sign in daily and do daily tasks like reading news and do some paper trading.

It's as simple as that.
 
moomoo June Campaign

Coming back to the June promotion which runs from 1st June - 2nd Aug 2021, 2000 hours.
 
The welcome bundle for new account opening is largely the same as previous campaigns which I've shared here and here.
 
1) 180 days commission-free trades for the US, HK and SG stock markets.
 
2) Free access to Level 2 market data for the US stock market.
 
3) Free access to Level 1 market data for the SG stock market.
 
4) 1 x free Apple (AAPL) share. 

5) 1 x free Nio (NIO) share*. 

* The added bonus here is that after depositing the minimum S$2,700 and upon unlocking Level 1 trading badge or completing 5 trades, you will receive your free Nio share too.
 
You can use my referral link to sign up for the account opening if you wish to start enjoying the benefits.
 
At this point of writing, one Apple share and Nio share is worth US$139.87 and US$50.23 respectively.
 
In other words, you will be getting around S$255 just by doing a few simple steps mentioned above.

If you ask me, it is easy money and a no brainer honestly.

Friday 18 June 2021

My Review of The Whisking Well Cake Shop (Probably My 1st and Last Purchase)

Being an entrepreneur myself, I tend to either consciously or subconsciously, want to support my fellow local entrepreneurs whenever I can.
 
So recently when I was searching to order a cake for my daughter's birthday, I chanced upon a cake shop called "The Whisking Well" which is run by two young entrepreneurs.

Their cakes look good in the website and the prices are quite on par with the other cake shops. So I decided to order a MSW Durian Burnt Cheesecake and chose self-collection 3 days later.
 
Unfortunately when I reached the shop for my collection on that day, the impression went downhill from that point.
 
Firstly, the lady handling my cake didn't bother to take it out from the box for my checking. I thought that is a norm from my experience in buying from other cake shops. Nevermind, small issue.
 
Secondly, when the lady asked me for the number of candles needed and I told her 3 small ones will do. Her reply left me bewildered.

She said and I quote: "I only have 1 candle."

This really takes the cake. Pun intended.

Back of my mind I was thinking you are running a cake shop and you have only one candle in your shop?

Either you are not a good planner or you are treating me as a fool or you are treating the next customer as a fool since I am supposedly taking your last candle.

I would have no issue if she says additional candles will be chargeable or something like that.

Anyway I leave it at such and left the shop. Not going to waste more time over two more candles.

Thirdly and not surprisingly, no cutting knife was given either. Luckily our birthday celebration is held at home so this didn't ended up to be an issue.

TLDR Summary

Taste: 6.5/10
Service: 4/10
Price: 5/10

Overall: 15.5/30

I probably would not buy from them again due to the substandard service and at the price points they are selling, there are plenty of other choices out there.

As a matter of fact, I subsequently bought another two cakes from Sinpopo and Rive Gauche. A Gula Melaka Cake and a Strawberry Shortcake respectively.
 
No complain on both be it taste-wise or service-wise. The staff at Rive Gauche even gave me an extra candle on her own initiative when I told her three small ones will suffice.

Sometimes small gestures like this can make or break a first impression.

Thursday 17 June 2021

Quick Review of Portfolio Value

Just did a quick glance through my portfolio since I'm chilling in the park while waiting to pick up my daughter and son.

The current SGD + HKD + USD combined portfolio value stands at around S$167,900.00.

And the latter two markets which consist primarily of the growth components of my portfolio stands at about 15% of the portfolio.

I will set a mini challenge for myself to try to push this to 20% by this year end without any capital injection.

Looking forward and hopefully I can do it. 

Tuesday 1 June 2021

May 2021 Updates

May 2021
 
Local Portfolio Value after market close (excluding USD and HKD)

S$143,524.80

Purchase

MSFT @ US$245.90
AAPL @ US$126.70
BABA @ HK$220

Sold

None

Dividends
 
DBS @ $108
Suntec Reit @ $81.80
 
Total: $189.80

Short-Term Transactions

1 x expired PINS Put 210521 58 with $1.07 premium
 
Closed early for 1 x PLTR Put 210521
 
2 x expired PLTR Put 210514 17 with $0.55 premium
 
Sold 1 x JD Put 210625 69 with $1.14 premium

Summary

03 May 2021 STI Open: 3,184.76
31 May 2021 STI Close: 3,164.28
 
As a guidance for my investment plans, I mentioned in my last update that I would place closer attention to this month for the market's reaction to the rising cases of local Covid-19 infections.
 
STI closed below its monthly opening for the first time after four consecutive months of rise since the start of this year.
 
Beginning of a drop? I think it's still early to say but it's good to have some spare funds ready to capture any opportunities that might arise.
 
For my SGD portfolio, value dropped by around $3.5k with no transactions done. 

Also received some dividends from DBS and Suntec Reit this month with more to come in the next. 

Spare cash is still not fully utilised yet. Awaiting for opportunities, including rights issue which we might see a few in the coming months. 

There are a few bright spots among the counters in my SGD portfolio. 

1) I am really glad to see MNACT's continual foray into the Japanese market with their latest acquisition of a freehold office building in Tokyo which is expected to be DPU-accretive. 

This will continue to reduce their concentration risk with Festival Walk. 

Post-acquisition, the Japanese assets will comprise about 27% of the trust's net property income. 

However apart from the rosy side of things, I will pay more attention to the gearing level of the trust since this acquisition will be partly funded by debt. 

Overall I must say I am pleased with MNACT's direction so far. 

2) For the long timer in my portfolio, SingTel, it has quite a number of happenings in recent times. 

Firstly, the new CEO announced the new strategic direction to drive the company forward. 

Secondly, there is a voluntary tender offer for its Thai subsidiary, AIS.

It is nice to see offers like this to unlock value be it for the subsidiaries or fixed assets.

Competition in the telco market is getting stiff. ARPU are getting lower.

To regain the former glory and to achieve greater heights, the way I see for SingTel to move forward is to transform itself into a technology company.

Of course the telco business is still an essential and defensive one that SingTel should continue with. There are so many things that can be done using 5G technology for the IOTs. However tech-based business should be the main driver for the company moving forward.

By the way SingTel is the first to launch a standalone 5G network in Singapore recently.

It's great that SingTel has gotten the digital banking license. Enormous potential there as a revenue driver and a tech-based one at that. However the new business takes time to gain traction and that is one of the reasons why I am holding on to my SingTel shares.

I can write a whole thesis on this but that will be on another day.

The new strategic direction focusing on three main tenets actually partly resonate with my views above for SingTel's transformation.

The first tenet to realign its core business towards capturing 5G market share and the second which is to develop new growth engines in ICT and digital services are good drivers in my opinion.

However I would very much like to see SingTel becoming another SEA or Grab. These are companies truely leveraging on technology to provide services to the mass market.

Just look at Grab. It is no longer a car-sharing platform. Rather, it has gone on to build an entire ecosystem of its own including payment service, loan, insurance, food and document deliveries.

The third tenet to unlock the value of its infrastructure assets is timely and logical for funding of the digital banking venture.

I suspect SingTel will reward shareholders in the form of special dividends too. Fingers crossed.

For my Syfe Core Growth portfolio, I am seeing a small positive return so far. Would be more meaningful to see the returns and review the portfolio when it turns one.
 
Have DCAed into this portfolio yesterday and plans to continue this strategy every month end.

For my USD portfolio, I have not done any intraday trading this month.
 
One of my counters briefly hit 'freehold' status before dropping slightly. As of now I am sitting on 81% gain but that is all on paper.
 
Collected S$372.70 of option premiums this month with the expiry of 3 Puts and early closure of one in Palantir and Pinterest.
 
Other than these, I have sold another Put this month for JD.com, expiring 25/6/2021 with a strike price of $69 and premium of $1.14.
 
Lately it seems harder to find decent premium in the options space but that is probably due to my style of only trading in companies that I don't mind holding.

Moving forward I will continue to use options as part of my investment / trading tools to augment my investable income. 

No, have not touched cryptos yet.
 
That's it, a longer update than usual. Got all excited whenever I write about SingTel.