Friday 31 August 2012

USA Republican Convention


It is frustrating to watch the Republican convention. Pointing blame instead of providing solutions, putting party before country. Legislators (congress) have failed miserably in providing fiscal policies to help the country, relying solely on monetary (Fed central bank) policies.

Can anyone even name who is Singapore's central banker? Well done, Singapore! :)



Wednesday 13 June 2012

Making my cash work HARDER

Have been looking at this new Standard Chartered savings account for few months and finally took the plunge to try it out, as I walk pass the bank branch on Sunday. Well I should let my cash work harder! :)

                                      

Monday 11 June 2012

Partial sale of MIT reit

Sold off half my stake in Mapletree Industrial Reit, as immediate resistance of 1.16 is reached. Will prob sell off more at 1.2 if it moves higher further, but global markets are way too choppy and unpredictable. Will purchase more at support level of 1.1, as company (government linked) is stable and pays good dividend of about 8% per year

                             

Tuesday 5 June 2012

Partial divestment in FCOT reit

Taking partial profit in reits, as global markets look weak, and a possible start of a bear market. Starting some short positions too :)


Thursday 31 May 2012

Completed divesments in DBS4.7%

Was able to fully divest my entire stake in DBS4.7% before some of the bad press on perpetual securities came into the limelight recently. All this talk about MAS advising retail investors on some of the "dangers", is also negatively affecting the share prices of the preferance shares.

Personally think MAS is overkilling after the minibond saga, swinging from one extreme of overly permissive over toxic funds vs another extreme of overly restrictive. There must be a healthy balance of risk vs reward for capitalism to thrive.

Wednesday 9 May 2012

Continued to divest in DBS4.7%

Sold away another stake in DBS4.7% pref share after XD. At current prices of above 106, it should be better to hold Hyflux6% for a much better yield. Prices of Pref shares in general have been under downside pressure these few weeks, as investors start to decide whether to flock to less-risky investments or should they start divesting for better capital gains in view of markets being beaten down due to new uncertainties in europe. For the time being, I choose to hold some cash for some good buying opportunities :)

Friday 4 May 2012

Partial divestment of Cache Reit

Reits have had an impressive 20-30% run since the start of 2012. With Cache Reit at an all-time high price, it does make sense to divest a partial of my holdings to take some profit. Some money on hand is always better than two on the bush :) Will continue to hold and divest further when 1.06 is broken further

Friday 20 April 2012

Partial divestment in UOB pref shares

UOB has a callable option on 15 Sep 2013 for this pref share, at par value of $100. Though it is still 1.5 yrs away, there would inherently be some downward pressure from current $106 towards $100. Recall that in 2008, during the global financial crisis, where credit is tight, banks of course had to offer higher interest of 5%, to encourage investors to part with their cash, to beef up their Tier 1 bank capital. Fast forward 4 yrs later in 2012-2013, with ample cash liquidity globally, it does not make much business sense for UOB to pay such high interest  :)

Thursday 19 April 2012

Stanchart Online Trading account

Hi friends

Have found it quite useful to use Stanchart new online trading account



The "no minimum commission" feature is useful for people who want to start small amounts in investing (vs ~$10k in brokerage houses to maximise commission rates)

http://www.standardchartered.com.sg/promotion/online-trading/index.html

Check it out! :)

Thursday 22 March 2012

Divestment of OCC393% pref shares

Divested my OCC preferance shares after ex-dividend in early March, and its price is still close to the PAR value of $100. As there should not be much price gains further upside, would set aside this capital for better investment gains :)

Tuesday 24 January 2012

CIMB starsaver account

My dad was asking me again on a savings account with a higher interest rates, after looking at a full splash page of SCB advertisement on the newspaper.

I took another look at the CIMB website and was simply amazed at how easy it is to open a CIMB account, plus some goodies for Referrals :) (pm me for my IC number)

Simply print out this form and mail, together with your enclosed cheque (written in your name, so this is safe!)

http://www.cimbbank.com.sg/index.php?ch=19&pg=41&ac=135&bb=912&tpt=cimb_sg



Tuesday 3 January 2012

Expensive Punggol Watertown Condo

Was at the pre-launch of FarEast's Watertown condo over the weekend

Though situated at the most prime space of punggol town, boasting of the MRT and punggol waterway facilities, personally i felt it was abit overpriced at $1300 psf (indicative)
ATresureTrove condo (by Sim Lian), just a stone's throw away, was going at only $1000 psf, few months ago. With the latest govt intervention on ppty prices, was expecting the big FarEast to be more realistic in pricing (well they do have holding power for their size)

Well anyway just looking for fun :P


Monday 2 January 2012

Partial divestment of DBS pref shares

Hi friends

fyi, I have partially sold off my DBS4.7% pref share at $107.5

After some 13 months, for a reasonable good yield of 12.2% (dividend 4.7% and capital gains 7.5%)

For those who have an even lower risk tolerance (~0% risk), I am also looking into Singapore Govt bonds for 2012. Will share more when I have more knowledge :)