This month marks the end of the earnings reporting season for the 1st half of 2010. From now on, the attention of investors will be back on the big picture, that is, the health of the economy.
Indeed, the second half of the month saw the Dow Jones Industial Average dip below the psychological 10,000 mark a couple of times! However, STI proved to be much more resilient as it held above the 2,900 mark throughout the month.
After adding positions in UOB Kayhian last month, I continue to add positions in Noble when the opportunity presents itself at $1.55. I believe that the aggressive mode of acquisitions and expansions by Noble during this period of uncertainty will be beneficial to its future profits and revenues when the potential is full-fledged.
In addition to the $550 of dividends declared last month, a few more counters declared their dividends for the quarter. Parkwaylife Reit announced a dividend of $0.0209 per share, which is a slight increase compared to the previous quarter. Rotary and UOB Kayhian have also announced an interim dividend of $0.01 per share and $0.005 per share respectively. This brings my total dividend for the quarter to approximately $700. This is above my expected dividend payout, and I hope my total dividends collection can reach $2,400/ year or even higher.
On the flipside, due to the volatility of the market, some of my counters' share price dropped to even lower levels as compared to last month's closing. This caused my portfolio's losses to increase by more than 3.5 times. However, I will continue to hold on to them as their fundamentals have not changed, and they had also reported decent profits and revenues for the quarter.
Consequently, some analysts state that Mapletree Logistic Trust may have a rights issue soon to raise funds from shareholders for more acquisitions to add on to the portfolio. In the event that a rights issue is declared, I will definitely add on my positions in the strong counter. Furthermore, Parkwaylife Reit is showing an unusual bull rally for this usually stable counter recently. This also sparked a debate on whether Parkwaylife Reit is planning any rights issue as well. I suppose until any concrete announcement is made, I can only guess. But if it is true, I will also add my positions in this defensive counter. For now, I will need to save more money to ensure adequate funds for possible rights purchase.
My Current Portfolio:
Lessons learnt: It is better to manage a few strong counters in a well balanced portfolio than having a diversified portfolio with far too many counters, more than I can handle effectively.
