Sept 2020 Updates

Sept 2020

Portfolio Value after market close

S$129,962.76

Wifey's Portfolio Value after market close

S$92,752.76

Purchase

None

Sold

None

Dividends

1) CapitaLand Retail China Trust (CRCT) @ $241.60

2) ESR Reit @ $66.20

3) Mapletree Logistics Trust @ $153.72

Total: $461.52

Short-Term Transactions

None

Summary

01 Sept 2020 STI Open: 2,538.55

30 Sept 2020 STI Close: 2,466.62

 

My portfolio value fell by about $3,500 this month.

And with work getting busier, there is little time for me to study the market hence I rather not trade.

STI closed lower than its opening for the month of Sept which is contrary to the prior month. 

July closed lower, August closed higher and finally September closed lower again.

This roller coaster ride is a mirror of the lack of clear direction of the local market. In other words the bulls and bears are still fighting with no clear winner yet.

If you ask me how to invest in this market, I would say follow your investment plan if you have one. I have blogged about my plan here and here.

 

If you do not have a plan, you might want to use the STI as a gauge. In my opinion at 2,500 levels, it might be a good time to start nibbling your preferred counters.

 

As always, enter in batches.

 

Three pieces of good news

 

1) Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust (MNACT) has announced its maiden entry to the South Korean market by investing into a 50% stake in The Pinnacle Gangnam, a Grade A office in Seoul.

 

Looking at it from a long term perspective, this will further reduce its concentration in Festival Walk.

 

In the near term, this acquisition is expected to offset the temporary reduction of income from Festival Walk.

 

While the initial yield of 3.2% appears to be low, around 97% of the leases have fixed annual rental escalations of 2 to 3%.

One downside is the relative low occupancy rate of 89.6% as compared to the market average of 95%. However this might not be a huge hurdle for a manager as experienced as Mapletree.

 

Even 'steadier', the Reit manager also announced that it will waive its performance fee until the Reit's DPU exceeds 7.12 cents which is the pre-Covid amount achieved.

 

Thumb's up!

 

2) CapitaLand Commercial Trust (CCT) has finalised the merger with CMT although it's all to be expected. To be honest I didn't even bother to send in my vote.

With this finalised I am looking forward to the performance of the new entity, CICT.

3) CRCT has announced it is expanding into new sectors apart from its traditional retail sector. 

 

The Reit will include office and industrial assets as part of its portfolio diversification strategy.

 

This reduces its sector concentration risk which I feel no doubt, is driven by the effects brought on by Covid-19.

 

Indeed, Covid-19 has made many companies realised their risks and accelerated their transformation.

Many of those that failed to realise this have unfortunately been forced to close down. And these companies included many brand names familiar to all of us. We have seen this in Singapore and all over the world during this pandemic.

 

With the above announcement, I expect CRCT to follow up by announcing their maiden investment in the new sectors soon.

Just a gut feeling.

August 2020 Updates

August 2020

Portfolio Value after market close

S$133,500.27

Wifey's Portfolio Value after market close

S$95,740.27

Purchase

None

Sold

None

Dividends

CapitaLand @ $480

Suntec Reit @ $61.32

CapitaLand Commercial Trust @ $133.60

SingTel @ $436

Ascendas Reit @ $363.50

Total: $1,474.42

Short-Term Transactions

None

Summary

03 Aug 2020 STI Open: 2,522.53

31 Aug 2020 STI Close: 2,532.51

Market closed higher than its opening for the month of Aug which is contrary to the prior month. 

Perhaps this is the start of the bull run locally?

But why locally? 

Because the volatility index VIX, otherwise known as the fear index has been rising recently. This implies a higher level of uncertainty in the U.S. market which is extremely exuberant at the moment.

This may present trading opportunities for traders but for long term investors, perhaps it's better to wait for pull backs as share prices have been hitting all time high. 

It will be interesting to see the trend for the next two weeks and for the month of September. 

July 2020 Updates

July 2020

Portfolio Value after market close

S$134,883.65

Wifey's Portfolio Value after market close

S$92,493.65

Purchase

3,500 shares of CapitaLand Commercial Trust (CCT) @$1.63

Sold

None

Dividends

Nil

Short-Term Transactions

None

Summary

Local market is a sea of red on the last trading day of July.

Portfolio value increased slightly with the addition of another 3,500 shares of CCT, bringing my holdings to 7,500 shares.

CapitaLand Commercial Trust

I have been looking to make this addition ever since the planned merger between CapitaLand Commercial Trust and CapitaLand Mall Trust is announced. Main reason for this is to avoid odd lots for the new entity - CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust (CICT).

If the merger does indeed goes through, my holdings in CICT will be 5,400 shares. A sizing that I am comfortable with.

With this purchase, my average cost has gone up to $1.50.

I had an initial targeted entry price of $1.68 which is quite a strong support level. So when the price broke the support yesterday morning due to a combination of the wider market factors and the ex-dividend, I decided to monitor more closely and eventually went in at $1.63 just before lunch.

As usual, I didn't managed to get the bottom price but I feel it's ok since this is meant for my long term income portfolio.

If dividend reverts to pre-Covid levels, yield will easily surpass 5% against this purchased price. And yield against my average cost will represent 6%.

DBS, OCBC & UOB

Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has called for our 3 local banks to cap their FY20 dividend per share (DPS) to 60% of FY19 levels.

This is a bomb shell especially to those aunty and uncle investors who depend on dividends for income.

This news caused the share price of the 3 banks to tank on the following day as expected. In particular, I am hoping for the share price of DBS and OCBC to drop to sub $17 and $8 respectively which are the levels for my next purchase.

Unfortunately this did not materialise. Will continue to monitor. I am in no hurry to add.

On the other hand instead of meddling with the banks' dividend policy, why don't the government propose to cap the millionaire ministers' salary to 60% of 2019 levels?

Oh wait, PM Lee has already said the high salaries are needed to ensure incorruptibility.

I always thought a person's integrity has to do with a proper upbringing and his inherent character, not how much he is given in the first place.

Apparently somebody thinks otherwise.

SingTel

Bharti Airtel seems to be a bottomless sinkhole for SingTel.

Just when the spectrum charge is finally settled, another news came that SingTel is liable for another S$911 million exceptional charge based on their stake in Airtel.

I will be paying attention to the coming results and ex-dividend date.

In my opinion, SingTel should really take a closer look at Airtel's accounts or just sell away their stake.

Whether the issue lies with Airtel or the Indian government, this partnership with the Indians doesn't seems like a bright spot for SingTel.

Feb 2020 Updates

Feb 2020

Portfolio Value after market close: S$130,500.85

Wifey's Portfolio Value after market close: S$61,970.85

Purchase: None

Sold: None

Dividends:

Suntec REIT @ $93.88
CCT @ $154.40

Received $11.75 from shares being borrowed on the SBL programme. 

Slight increase in portfolio value over last month end. Surprisingly as the market is a bloody red today with STI dropped close to 100 points.

Several counters have reached or is closing to my TP. Might enter in batches next week depending on the trend. 

Jan and Feb 2018 Updates

Investments

Received the first round of dividends for this year as follows.

SingTel dividends S$490

Suntec dividends S$104.16

CCT dividends S$164

Viva dividends S$92.85

MLT dividends S$152.42

Total dividends received: S$1,003.43.

Career

Just closed the accounts for my new company after venturing out on my own last year. Managed to achieve ROI within the first year of operations. Shall continue to work harder to grow the business.

Recent Actions - Sept & Oct 2017

Mapletree Logistics Trust

Added 2,300 shares from preferential offering. Total holdings at 7,300 shares.

Received S$85.30 dividend this month.

CapitaLand Commercial Trust

Added 1,000 shares from rights issue. Total holdings at 4,000 shares.

mm2 Asia

Sold for some small profits this month.

August Updates

August has been a good month for me in terms of investments.

Dividends

Dividends Collected

S$1,486.57

This comes from M1, SingTel, OCBC, CapitaLand Commercial Trust and Suntec Reit.

Stocks Purchased

Mapletree Logistics Trust @ S$1.185

This purchase forms part of my long term portfolio. Reasons for entering have been shared here.

Comfort Delgro @ S$2.18

Bought a second tranche when the price took a battering recently. This lowered my average price and subsequently I sold my holdings to take in some profits.

However I will enter CDG again once the opportunity arises as it is still a solid stock that I fancy and my belief in its fundamentals remains unchanged.

Wilmar @ S$3.11

I have been monitoring Wilmar for some time and when the price dropped recently to what I felt is a value with sufficient safety margin, I decided to make my maiden purchase into this commodities giant.

This will be a short term trade for me as it does not fits into my long term plan.

Stock Sold

Comfort Delgro @ S$2.33

Sold CDG for a small profit during the mini run up on news of possible collaboration with Uber. Decided to lock in the profits first for deployment elsewhere.

Last but not least, I received a bonus S$100 in the form of NS50 vouchers. Cheers!