One Year High and Low

High 3,539.95 (April 15 2015)

Low 3,154.21 (October 16 2014)

Date                          STI                              Volume             STI ETF         Nikko STI ETF

September 25   2,832.64 -13.10   339 million shares traded      2.89                   2.93
STI ends in the red amid market uncertainty.  Mood likely to remain downbeat as investors wait for clear directions, say analysts.

September 18   2,879.59 -16.22 502 million shares traded      2.93                   2.97
STI dips amid bout of  profit taking.  But most Asian markets close higher after Fed delays raising of interest rates.

News
The Federal Reserve decided on Thursday to delay its first interest rate hike in nearly a decade, keeping its benchmark rate near zero, where it has remained since 2008.  Fed Chair Janet Yellen told a media briefing that while most policy makers still expect to raise rates later this year, a few now believe such conditions will not be seen until next year or later.  Yellen cited concerns over heightened uncertainties in the global outlook, slower growth in China and recent volatility in financial markets, noting that such developments could restrain US economic activity and put further downward pressure on inflation in the near term. 

September 10   2,888.03 -40.15 200 million shares traded      2.94                   2.98
US rate hike fears put brakes on rebound.  STI retreats in tandem with Wall Street and Asian bourses, with big 3 banks leading losers.

Recent Purchase
Parkway Life Real Estate Investment Trust (C2PU) @ 2.22

Investing Quotes
"To buy when others are despondently selling and to sell when others are avidly buying requires the greatest fortitude and pays the greatest ultimate reward."  -- Mr. Templeton

August 28   2,863.81 -42.62    257 million shares traded      2.91                   2.95
Bears continue to maul Asian markets.  Respite from China market closures, but investors still exit ahead of US jobs report.

Recent Purchase
Kingsmen Creative (5MZ) @ 0.80 

Insider Purchase
It is happening again.  When market falls, insider of companies start to purchase more of their own companies shares while small investors goes into hiding.

• Wee Ee Chao, two weeks following Black Monday on Aug 24 spent about S$868,000 to buy 620,000 shares in UOB Kay Hian where he is a managing director and chairman.
• Mr Ron Sim, Osim International found and chief executive bought about 2.19 million shares in his own company.  He also spend about S$680,000 to purchase 733,000 shares in Perennial Real Estate Holdings where he is also a vice-chairman and non-executive director.
• Mr Koh Wee Meng of Fragrance and Global Premium Hotels invested about S$200,000 to buy up 1.05 million shares of Fragrance and S$108,000 which is about 360,000 shares of Global Premium Hotels.

August 28   2,955.94 +10.51    349 million shares traded      3.00                   3.05
Profit-taking pares STI strong start.  Index fails to cross 300 points mark in spite of strong led set by Wall Street and China.

This is a horrible week for many investors as the STI sank to a new low of 2,843.39 on 24 August 2015.

Recent Purchase
Parkway Life Real Estate Investment Trust (C2PU) @ 2.30

August 21   2,971.01 -38.77    359 million shares traded      3.03                   3.05
Grim China data adds gloom to bourse.  STI down nearly 39 points, falls below the 3,000 level for the first time since Feb 2014.

In a bear market, what you buy today might be cheaper tomorrow.  However, you won't know also if the market will suddenly turn positive.  The way to go during such gloomy period is to do averaging.   Don't do the big bang buy.  Instead divide out your money and do a price or time averaging.

Weekly Investment Thoughts
Proper Trading Psychology To Win
There are a great number of traders and investors who have studied and learned solid trading strategies and methods. Sometimes they have good trading results but can never seem to reach the plateau of the very best.......

August 14   3,114.25 +22.47   236 million shares traded      3.15                   3.18
Singapore investors unfazed by weaker yuan.  STI rises for 2nd day but is down by 2.6% for the week.

Investment Thoughts
What Is the Right Approach To Investing
If you have to make the decision to invest your own funds, you ought to find out the various investment strategy and knows their differences for e.g. technical trading, buy and hold, etc. In this way, you will be aware of the things.......

August 6      3,196.66 +5.27   233 million shares traded      3.23                   3.26
STI edges up ahead of National day break.  Short covering helps bourse close higher in otherwise thin trading day.

News: Singapore’s Listed Banks Complete Second Quarter Reports

Singapore’s three listed banks have economic origins that trace back to 1912. The three banks currently represent a third of the STI’s weighting and collectively averaged a total return of 8.5% over the past 12 months.

Last week, the three banks reported Q2 earnings. OCBC (10.20 dividend 3.5294), DBS (20.32 dividend 2.9528) and UOB (21.55 dividend 4.1763) averaged Net Interest Margins of 1.73 and ROE levels at 11.8% for the quarter. Meanwhile asset quality for the three banks have remained stable compare to the previous quarter and the year-ago period.

The three banks were also ranked in the World’s 10 most strongest banks by the most recent Bloomberg Markets survey released on 30 July.

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July 31         3,202.50 -47.02  748 million shares traded      3.24                   3.26
STI slide contiues amid China equity scare.  Day losses led larely by Noble Group.

This week in the last 3 or 4 trading sessions, we can see how terrible the markets can go as it wipe out the gains from January to July 2015.  As the markets falls, many investors are afraid as they see thousands of their investment dollars going down the drain.  They start to doubt their investment action.  They begin to feel that they should have kept the money in the bank.  Each day gets gloomier and it seems like an endless tunnel.  Nobody knows when the China/Greek turmoil and low oil crises will end.  Often we forgot that shares are real businesses that provide useful services to consumers.  No wonder Warren Buffett once said this: Successful Investing Requires Skill And Strength Of Character.

Action
For the week, have added Sarine Technologies Limited  (U77) @ 1.975 into my dividend portfolio.

Sarine Technologies Limited business includes the following.

• Develops and manufactures planning, evaluation, and measurement systems for diamond and gemstone production in India, Africa, Europe, North America, Israel, and internationally. Its products include Advisor, a rough planning software; DiaMobile XL for evaluating and planning rough diamonds; and DiaScan S+ for the geometrical measurement and modelling of diamonds. 
• The company also offers Best Value, an add-on to Advisor software; DiaExpert to print manufacturing instructions on rough diamonds; DiaMark that inscribes laser lines to convey manufacturing instructions on semi-processed diamonds; GIA Facetware planning, a plug-in to Advisor software; Inclusion charting tool, an add-on to Advisor software; and TruScan, a laser mapping hardware add-on. 
• In addition, it provides Galaxy and Solaris series producst for automated detection and mapping of internal features in rough diamonds; Quazer, a green laser diamond sawing and shaping system; Quazer industrial cutting and Quazer shaping for cutting and shaping diamonds; Strategist, a setup station that integrates Advisor and Quazer systems; and Turnstile, an add-on sawing cassette for Quazer system. 
• Further, the company offers Sarine In-Store-Viewer, a tablet-based sales tool; Sarine Light Reports, which certifies and brands diamonds; Sarine Light, a measuring and grading standard; and Sarine Profile, a digital trade and retail solution. 
• Additionally, it provides AGS performance grading, a cut grading software; DiaMension to offer measurements of polished and semi-polished diamonds; DiaScribe for inscribing on polished diamonds; Diamond Assay Service; Instructor, a polished diamond analysis and grading software; and GIA Facetware cutting, a plug-in to Instructor software. 

News: Ten Best STI Performers Averaged 11% Total Returns YTD

The 30 stocks of the Straits Times Index have a combined market capitalisation of S$548.3 billion. In the year thus far, they averaged a price decline of 3.0% and negative dividend-adjusted returns of 1.4%. They averaged negative total returns of 1.6% over the last 12 months and total returns of 19.6% over the last three years.

In the year through 21 July, the 10 best-performing components of the STI averaged a price gain of 9.1% and dividend-boosted returns of 11.2%. This brought their one-year and three-year total returns to 18.1% and 58.2% respectively.

The five best performers in the year thus far were Hongkong Land Holdings, ComfortDelGro Corporation,Thai Beverage Public Company, Singapore Telecommunications, and Singapore Exchange.

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July 10          3,279.88 +12.48 190 million shares traded      3.33                   3.33
Asian markets recovered slightly thanks to the better news from Greece and China.

News: Temasek’s Major Investments Listed on SGX

Temasek Holdings' net portfolio grew to S$266 billion in the financial year ending 31 March.  Among its SGX-listed major investments are 12 primary listings. Together, the 12 stocks averaged a 2.6% dividend-inclusive gain in the year thus far. The 12 stocks also maintain a 3.2% dividend yield and average three year returns of 26.1%.

Major Temasek investments listed on SGX	Current Annual Dividend (%)
Singapore Telecommunications	4.1
DBS Group Holdings	2.8
CapitaLand	2.6
Keppel Corporation	2.7
Singapore Airlines	2.0
Singapore Technologies Engineering	2.4
Sembcorp Industries	4.2
Olam International	4.5
SATS	5.0
Neptune Orient Lines	N/A
SMRT Corporation	2.1
STATS ChipPAC	N/A
Average	3.2

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July 3            3,342.73 +14.89 136 million shares traded      3.40                   3.39
S'pore stocks end higher as Wall St slides.  But there could be market volatility next week following Greek referndum tomorrow.

Stock Buy:
This week bought Boustead Singapore @ 1.25 and ST Eng @ 3.29

News: MAS proposals to strengthen REIT Market 
After obtaining feedback from market participants, MAS has refined its proposals for strengthening the S-REITs market. Key changes include restricting the gearing limit to 45% of total assets (versus the current cap of 35% for REITs that are not rated and 60% for those with credit ratings) and increasing the development limit to 25% from 10% previously. In addition, to improve transparency and corporate governance, MAS will now require that REIT managers clearly justify each type of fee charged, including disclosing the methodology for computing fees, and that at least half of the Board comprises independent directors, if unitholders do not have the right to appoint the directors. 

“REITs currently with leverage of over 40%. These REITs include OUE-HT (42.1%), KREIT (42.4%), OUECT (41-42%) and ART (40.4%). We believe the affected REITs could potentially be motivated to deleverage in the mid-term to bring their leverage ratios to below the 40% level” .

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