August 2019 Update

Aug 2019

Portfolio Value after market close: S$95,554.49

Wifey's Portfolio Value after market close: S$45,896.71

Purchases: None

Sold: None

Dividends:

SingTel: $535
Suntec Reit: $62.60
CCT: $200.80
MNACT: $78
*ESR Reit: $4.82

Another dividend season is here. Only difference is that I have been so busy recently that I have not even thought about it. Only realised it when I saw the various dividends in my bank account last night.

With the above divvys in, total amount received YTD has broken the $10k mark. A small milestone for me but unlikely to repeat next year.

These few days have been looking more closely at 2 of the local banks.

Wanted to nibble DBS when it dipped below $24 but ultimately didn't pull the trigger as I decided it didn't fit in to my strategy.

The price was good for a short term trade but valuation is still too high for a buy and hold long term person like me. Will make a move at around $22.20 unless emotions get the better of me.

Another one was OCBC. Price has been settling within my TP range at about 1 x BV. But I decided to wait till 1st September to see the effect of the new tariffs have on the market.

Last but not least, Japfa has hit my TP too and seems to be consolidating there. Again will see the price movement next week before entering another batch.

* Added ESR Reit dividend.

US and China Trade War

In an unsurprising move, China has published its own list of 128 US products on which it will impose tariffs ranging between 15 - 25%.

The full list can be found here.

This is obviously a retaliation against US which recently announced tariffs on US$50 billion worth of Chinese products - a true business man fashion by Trump.

The effect of this trade war between the top two economies in the world can be seen in the jitteries felt among the various markets in this week.

Our local STI has dropped 72 points to close at 3,339.70 at this point of writing after hovering around the 3,400 region.

While this has caused a drag on my portfolio, it has also presented opportunities to pick 'durians' cheaply. Some of my targets have already fallen to attractive prices.

So what does that spells for me?

For now I will continue to monitor the news on this topic which I don't think will end anytime soon. Staying on the side line before taking the plunge is my strategy now.