Portfolio Update - 31 December 2015

December has been a relatively quiet month in equity market. US Fed finally made the first step to hike the interest rate to 0.25%, officially ending the long era of cheap money. The hike was not excessive and the market took it as a confirmation of US economics recovery. Global stock market rallied the next day after the Fed's announcement.

STI rose moderately in quiet trading sessions, as there lacks positive news from the corporate world. At 5:10pm  today, STI stood at 2,882.73, up 26.79 points, or 0.94% from last month. My portfolio moved slightly ahead of the index, its value rose 1.17% this month. HTL and Ascendas H-Trust were among the best performers this month, after news of acquisition surfaced.

This month, I bought shares from KSH, Tai Sin and Lee Metal. I also received Mapletree Ind Tr and Cambridge Ind Tr shares through scrip dividend scheme. Net cash injected amounts to S$15,138.00. I also received some bonus shares from KSH.

On the dividend side, total dividend this month from shares and UT amounts to S$11,335.00. Below are the top 30 holdings as at 5:10pm on 30 December.

1.       ComfortDelGro
2.       SPH
3.       OCBC Bank
4.       DBS
5.       Ausnet Services
6.       Kep Inf Tr fKa CIT
7.       ST Engineering
8.       Metro
9.       SGX
10.   Sembcorp Ind
11.   Starhub
12.   Frasers Comm Tr
13.   CapitaLand
14.   AIMSAMP Cap Reit
15.   HTL Int
16.   SATS
17.   OUE
18.   Keppel Corp
19.   Tai Sin Electric
20.   Nam Lee Metal
21.   CapitaComm Tr
22.   Nikko AM STI ETF 100
23.   KSH
24.   Ascendas Reit
25.   Stamford Land
26.   SIA
27.   Ascendas-h Trust
28.   United Engineers
29.   Saizen Reit
30.   Global Inv

There are 5 new entries (compared with last month) in the bottom half of the table. Share prices HTL and Ascendas-h Trust surged after news of acquisition was announced. They will disappear from the list in near future. KSH and Tai Sin entered the list due to new purchase and bonus share issue, while SIA share price rose over a dollar this month.

As a whole, 2015 has not been a good year for equity investment. STI started well this year, and was above 3,400 in April. Then came a slew of bad news and now it stood at 2,882.73, down 482 points, or 14.34% from December last year.

My share portfolio took a beating this year as well. Although there was a net cash injection of S$170,000 into the portfolio, its value only increased by S$33,644. Even if I take the dividend received into consideration, there is still a net lost of about 4%. The only consolation is, the lost is smaller than the index. This shows again one advantage of dividend investment. In time of market volatility, dividend income can be used to reinvest into the market and hence cushioned the effect of volatility. UT portfolio value dropped about 10% for the year, or 4% when dividend income is taken into consideration.

The dividend income from both shares and UT investment was higher this year, as I continued to invest in dividend yielding stocks, UT and retail bonds. Total dividend received this year was S$151,364.00, which was above the target set a year ago. This was with the help of some special dividend following merger of City Springs and Keppel Inf Tr, and the return of  capital from MIIF after the fund closure. In the coming year, some of the dividend yielding counters will disappear from my portfolio. So I will not raise the dividend target, but keep it at S$150,000.00 The chart below shows the monthly dividend.

May I take this opportunity to Wish everyone a healthy, peaceful and successful 2016.

Portfolio Update - 30 November 2015

The market recovery in October proved to be short lived. Looming US rate hike and Slowdown of Chinese economy determined the market sentiment and the stock prices moved south this month. Other negative factors included terror attack in Paris, lacklustre corporate earning results, China probe in the brokerage firms, etc.

STI closed today at 2,855.94 for the month of November, dropped 142.41, or 4.75% compared with last month. My portfolio, though performed better than the index, saw its value decreased by 2.99% from last month (exclude new investment).

This month, I bought some shares from Nera Tel, Cache Log Trust and KSH. I also received shares from MapletreeLog Trust via scrip dividend scheme.

Total dividend received this month amounts to S$10,852.26, including dividends received from Bond(FCL retail bond) and UT.

Below are my top 30 holdings as at 30 November 2015. SIA and Ascendas HT dropped off the list, and were replaced by Saizen Reit and SingShipping. Total fund injected was about S$19,000.

1.       ComfortDelGro
2.       SPH
3.       OCBC Bank
4.       DBS
5.       Ausnet Services
6.       Kep Inf Tr fKa CIT
7.       Metro
8.       ST Engineering
9.       Sembcorp Ind
10.   SGX
11.   Starhub
12.   Frasers Comm Tr
13.   CapitaLand
14.   AIMSAMP Cap Reit
15.   SATS
16.   OUE
17.   Keppel Corp
18.   Nam Lee Metal
19.   Ascendas Reit
20.   Nikko AM STI ETF 100
21.   CapitaComm Tr
22.   Stamford Land
23.   YZJ Shipbldg SGD
24.   United Engineers
25.   Saizen Reit
26.   Global Inv
27.   SingTel
28.   Mapletree Log Tr
29.   Sing Inv & Fin
30.   SingShipping

Portfolio Update - 30 October 2015

After a few months of volatility and southwards movement, I was glad to find STI recovered to above 2,900 points when I came back from my China (Xinjiang) trip. In fact the market looked rather good in October, and STI moved above 3,000 points. China's interest rate cutting and Europe's QE measure supported the stock prices. Singapore companies reported a mix results of the past quarters, but REIT's do generally quite well. Just as I thought that market should be on it's way up, US Fed's hint to raise interest rate in December rocked the market again. STI moved down again on the last 3 trading days of this month.

Compared to 22 Sep 2015 (that is when I updated my portfolio in September), STI moved up 133.04, or 4.64%. My portfolio trailed behind STI and moved up 3.47%.

This month, I bought some shares of Lian Beng, Stamford Land and Tai Sin Electric. I redeemed my holdings on Macquarie International Infrastructure Fund due to closure of the fund. Net cash injection into the portfolio was S$,19,676.83.

Total dividend income this month amounts to S$14,488.21. Majority of the dividend came from Unit trust, as dividend from shares was low this month.

With many companies already published their result and declared dividends in November and December, I am able to forecast the dividend income for the year. This year turns out to be a good year for dividend income. With the help of some special dividend (e.g. Boustead, KIT) and the investment in Unit Trust, my total passive income looks to hit S$150,000 this year. Before you, my dear readers start to 'wow' in admiration or envy, let me reveal to you that, this is the total dividend income from both shares and UT portfolio. Year-to-date, my stock portfolio alone has its value decline by 7.29%, and the dividend income from it only represents a return of slightly less than 6%. So all in all, I have a negative return (paper loss) in my stock investment this year. So, there is really nothing to shout at.

I added in this information so that I am not seem to always brad about my dividend income, and the reader will see a more complete picture. As I said in another post, investment in stock market is like a game, sometimes you win, sometimes you loss; or it's like 围棋, you win here, but loss there. My focus is on long term so this temporary loss can be tolerated.

Below are my top 30 holdings as at 30 October 2015: Two new comers in the group: Stamford Land and Ascendas H Trust.

1.       ComfortDelGro
2.       SPH
3.       OCBC Bank
4.       DBS
5.       Ausnet Services
6.       Kep Inf Tr fKa CIT
7.       ST Engineering
8.       Sembcorp Ind
9.       Metro
10.   Frasers Comm Tr
11.   SGX
12.   Starhub
13.   CapitaLand
14.   AIMSAMP Cap Reit
15.   Keppel Corp
16.   OUE
17.   SATS
18.   CapitaComm Tr
19.   YZJ Shipbldg SGD
20.   Nikko AM STI ETF 100
21.   Ascendas Reit
22.   Stamford Land
23.   Nam Lee Metal
24.   SingTel
25.   United Engineers
26.   Global Inv
27.   Sing Inv & Fin
28.   SIA
29.   Mapletree Log Tr
30.   Ascendas-h Trust