31 December 2009

The year 2009 finally comes to its end. In this eventful year, the stock market surprised the world positively. the sharp V shape recovery of the equity market was never predicted by or foresenn by anyone. Who had expected such a recovery?

The strategy of staying invested and buy into the market when it was down at the bottom paid off. As at today, I haved re-couped all losses from the stock market (taking into account of dividends received). My UT portfolio even shows a +8% profit.

Everyone is saying (or at least many "gurus") that the index will edge up further in 2010. but for me, I intend to go more "defensive"- meaning I will invest more in defensive stocks that pays good dividend. Reason? I have reached 50 and I feel that it is time to go more defensive and generate more alternate source of income.

Back to Dec 2009. STI soar 165.5 points to end at 2897.62 at the end of the year (month). My portfolio value grew a stella S$69,615. This included fresh investment of S$25,525. So effectively I made S$44,100 in capital gain. Besides, I received S$7,500 in cash dividend. I bought Capitaland share (finally got the big C) and top up SPH shares when price dipped after XD. I participated in rights subscriptions in MIT (now AIMSAMPIREIT) and Pteris.

Below are the top 30 holdings as at the end of Dec 2009.

1. SPH
2, ComfortDelGro
3. OCBC Bk
4, DBS
5. ST Engineering
6. Semb Corp
7. SP AusNet
8. F & N
9. CitySpring
10. Starhub
11. SAT Svcs
12. SembMar
13. FraserComm
14. SIA
15. CoscoCorp
16. CapitaComm
17. FrasersCT
18. Capitaland
19. SSH Corp
20. SingTel
21. Yangzijiang
22. AscottReit
23. MetroHldg
24. MapletreeLog
25. Aztech
26. Sp Ship
27. Tat Hong
28. KS Energy
29. ASL Marine
30. SMRT

Comparing the list with that from November, one can see the the market is no longer as volatile. the top 10 positions hardly changed. Capitaland is a new member in my portfolio (bought when price dipped below 4). Mida was pushed down to position no 31.

Exercise Warrants for the First Time

Call it luck, call it blessing...

I realised that I had 2,000 warrants from Transpac in my portfolio, with exercise price of S$1 one day before XD! With the dividend of 40cts declared by Transpac, it seemed too good an opportunity to miss. (Simple calculation: Pay $2,000 for 2 lots of Transpac shares worth $3,800.)

I called up the agent and was informed that if I submit the form and cashier's order by the "record date", i.e. 10 December, I would still be entitled to the dividend. Well I did just that - with help from my wife who works in Shenton Way.

Besides the profit made, now I have a better idea on Warrant exercising.

30 November 2009

The initially "no event" November month was suddenly rocked by the Dubai Crisis on 27.11.09. STI was spared because 27 was a public holiday. However, when market resumed on 30.11.09, STI dropped more than 1% while the rest of Asia recovered. STI ended this month at 2732.12, still 80 points higher than October.

My portfolio gave up almost all the gains on the last day of trading. Compared to the last month, portfolio value rose only S$275. There is a negative net cashflow 0f S$1,085 into the portfolio. So effectively portfolio rose by S$1,160.

I sold off Tiong Woon after holding the shares for more than a year. After deciding that this counter isn't going to grow much further and isn't going to give good dividend.

I receive S$2,073 in cash dividend this month.

The top 30 counters made little changes. Tiong Woon and Raffles Edu dropped off, SMRT and Midas took their place at the bottom of the table.


1. SPH
2. ComfortDelGro
3. OCBC Bk
4. DBS
5. Semb Corp
6. ST Engineering
7. SP AusNet
8. F & N
9. CitySpring
10. Starhub
11. SAT Svcs
12. FraserComm
13. SembMar
14. CapitaComm
15. SIA
16. CoscoCorp
17. FrasersCT
18. Yangzijiang
19. SSH Corp
20. SingTel
21. MapletreeLog
22. Sp Ship
23. MetroHldg
24. AscottReit
25. Aztech
26. Tat Hong
27. ASL Marine
28. KS Energy
29. SMRT
30. MIDAS