Portfolio Update for February 2023

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This will be a relatively short post, just to update on the transactions for the month.

For the month of February, the tables seemed to have turned once again.  A totally different atmosphere and sentiment overshadows the market, especially after the release of the January CPI data, followed by the PCE data later in the month.  The data seemed to suggest that inflation is going to be way more sticky than expected, and thus the peak for the 10-year yield may end up higher than currently expected.  As such, the price pressure returned for the REITs.  This is very much in-line with what I have written in a post earlier this month regarding the performance of Singapore REITs.  I believe that at least for the first half of 2023, performance of REITs will remain subdued.  Now, with the release of sticky inflation numbers, I do not see meaningful turnaround of the REITs for the whole of 2023.

Another important event that happened this month is the integration of ChatGPT into Microsoft to challenge the market share of Google in the search platforms.  The uneventful attempt by Google to present their AI Bot 'Bard' to the public (and made a factual error in its first demonstration) badly shook the confidence level of Google's investor, causing its share price to plunge.  Thankfully for myself, as a shareholder of both Google and Microsoft, the plunge in one is mitigated by the soar in the other, further demonstrating the importance of diversification.  I believe both companies will still be giants in their respective field with a wide moat and strong financials, and hopefully Google can improve its AI to restore investor's confidence.

A bright spot appears in the financial sector.  Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) and Hong Leong Finance (HLF) reported excellent results for the financial year, and increased their final dividends by 28% and 60% respectively!  This definitely boosted my dividend income for the year, and I hope this bountiful increment can safely cushion the headwinds that the dividends from REITs may face in upcoming quarters.

Overall, the return of the negative sentiment brought my portfolio down back into the red (excluding reinvested dividends).  Just continue to hold on to my portfolio, and continue to reinvest dividends collected.

For this month, I injected approximately SGD 3.9K capital buying the following shares:

SGX:    Capitaland Integrated Commercial Trust

             Mapletree Industrial Trust

             Singapore Technologies Engineering

US:       Google-C

             META ETF

             Microsoft

             Tesla

In addition, I have also reinvested dividends on the following shares:

SGX:    Capitaland Integrated Commercial Trust

             Mapletree Industrial Trust

             Singapore Technologies Engineering

Total Portfolio Value has remained flat at around SGD 464K despite the capital injection, mainly due to the decline in prices of REITs because of increasing 10-year yield.  However, the drop is cushioned slightly by the performance of banks and financial institution, which makes me want to further emphasize the importance of diversification.  I will continue to slowly DCA into the market, and also reinvest the dividends back into the market to compound my portfolio, while strictly adhering to the rules I set for myself.  Shall continue to stay positive but remain cautious, while collecting my dividends in the upcoming months!

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