Portfolio Update for January 2024

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

For the month of January, it is a rather negative month.  After the release of the hotter than expected December CPI numbers, it makes investors wonder if inflation is going to be more sticky than expected.  On top of that, the crisis at the red sea exacerbate inflation issues, with prices of crude oil inching towards USD 80.  All these issues sent conflicting signals regarding the timeline for rate cuts.  Markets were expecting rate cuts to begin in March 2024, and the December 2023 rally had priced in this timeline.  As such, if rate cuts do not happen in March 2024, that may bring about more selling pressure in the markets as expectations are not met.  Such volatility has appeared this month, as more FED officials are hinting that the number of rate cuts will probably be lesser, and only happen later.  Currently, expectations have postponed to May 2024 timeline amid the volatility and data released.  Will it be delayed further, it's anyone guess.

With the volatility in respective shares, the major US market indexes are all inching towards all time high, and I have locked in some profits by selling part of my holdings in Microsoft, locking in an approximately 37% profit.  For my other shares in US Growth Portfolio, I will continue to increase my exposure gradually through dollar cost averaging.  As share prices are higher than where I would like them to be, I have sold cash secured puts for Palantir, Google, Apple, JP Morgan, Microsoft and Tesla to earn some premiums if they expire worthless, or an opportunity to own the shares at the desired price if they reach the strike price.  I will discuss more about my options in the upcoming post.

Closer to home, as mentioned in my previous post, I have added another dividend compounding machine into my portfolio, which is CapitaLand Ascott Trust.  However, it is not a beautiful picture as the 10-year yield crept up above 4%.  This created stress in the REITs and Trusts, a total u-turn from the picture seen last month.  However, as this is beyond my control, I can only sit back and hold on, and slowly dollar cost average into the market and continue to accumulate shares.  On a brighter note, some REITs and Trusts have reported their quarterly earnings, which means I can look forward to more juicy dividends in the coming months!  So far, good job by my new addition, CapitaLand Ascott Trust, showing 2 digit percentage increase in distribution per unit year-on-year.  Mapletree Logistics Trust and Mapletree Industrial Trust also did relatively well, with slight increase in distribution per unit year-on-year.  Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust continues to underperform, with decline in distribution per unit.  I have no idea when the turnaround for MPACT will happen, but comparing metrices, it is rather flattish.  For now, awaiting for other REITs and Banks to release their results to see how much growth in dividends I can expect for 1st quarter 2024.

For this month, I injected approximately SGD 4.5K capital buying the following shares:

SGX:    CapitaLand Ascott Trust

             Frasers Logistics and Commercial Trust

             Mapletree Industrial Trust

             Mapletree Logistics Trust

             ParkwayLife REIT

US:       Apple

             Google-C

             JP Morgan

             Palantir

             Tesla

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

SGX:    Mapletree Logistics Trust

On the other hand, I have sold the following shares:

US:       Microsoft

             Apple

Total Portfolio Value has plunged by approximately 5.5% to around SGD 477K including capital injection and excluding the cash collected from the sale of Microsoft and Apple, which also helped to prop up my cash reserves slightly.  Thankfully the cash in excess of USD 10K in IBKR account can earn an interest of 4.83%.  I will continue to remain patient, slowly DCA into the market, and also reinvest the dividends back into the market to compound my portfolio.  Moving ahead, I am keeping my fingers crossed that some correction may happen in time to come for the US markets after hitting all time highs, so I have the opportunity to redeploy the cash back into the markets (the result of itchy fingers causing me to miss the extended bull run).  For now, looking forward to more announced dividends!

Comments

  1. KC3031 January 2024 at 08:24

    SGD 477K is a great feat...! I hope to emulate you :) With the rate cut halts, wondering if it's a good idea to pick up bank stocks..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BFIRE31 January 2024 at 14:26

      Hey KC30, I have no crystal ball, so I won't be able to tell you if it's yay or nay to add bank stocks now. Personally, I will, but I will wait for them to correct first at prices are quite high now. Personally I own OCBC and Hong Leong Finance, and I will continue to add on to them when their price retreats. AK says $12.60 is a level to consider for OCBC, I may think about it when it comes. DBS and UOB are good additions too, just that for myself, their unit price is too high for my DCA.

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