Portfolio Update for April 2025

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

For the month of April, it was a turbulent month of severe downs and ups.  The “Liberation Day” on 2nd April 2025 has caused the markets worldwide to crash by minimally 5% upwards.  The reciprocal tariffs and base tariffs imposed on almost all countries caused massive fears of uncontrollable inflation to return.  After the markets crashed for 1 week, the spike in US 10-year bond yields to above 4.5% levels inevitably freaked out investors further, and the probably the US Government as well.  Hence it lead to Trump's decision to delay the implementation of the reciprocal tariffs by 90 days, except for China.  This sudden 'flip-flop' in decision caused a major rally in the stock markets worldwide, exacerbating the volatility in the markets.

Nothing much this month, except my regrets for not being able to buy more stocks during the crash on hindsight.  There was sufficient time for purchases to be done, however I was hesitant to buy during that period due to the lack of funds.  When my funds are finally available from the receipt of dividends, the stock market has turned around and I missed the chance to grow my SG Dividend Portfolio.  Personally, I am not intending to add on any more investments in my US Portfolio.  Therefore if I am not intending to sell any US shares, I will not have any available funds in my IBKR account to buy more shares, which I am perfectly fine with.

For my US Growth Portfolio, it has declined by more than USD 12K from the all time high reached in March.  However I am not doing much about it and just holding on to the shares and ETF.  I believe all the stocks and ETFs I hold in my portfolio are high quality companies, and I am fine with the volatility it experiences at this juncture.  However, I may consider to consolidate the funds by selling out my smaller positions in Apple and Alphabet, and reallocate the proceeds into ETFs.  Final decision has not be made yet, I will continue to monitor how the market moves in upcoming months.

Closer to home, it is a new quarter, and the earnings of the REITs, Trust and remaining companies will gradually be released this month and next, and this means, dividends are streaming in soon in the coming months. First to release its earnings result is Mapletree Logistics Trust (MLT), which has announced an 11.6% and 2.4% decline in DPU year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter respectively.  Similarly, Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust (MPACT) also announced a 14.8% and 2.5% decline in DPU year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter respectively.  The results were quite disappointing, but within my expectations.  Mapletree Industrial Trust (MIT) on the other hand, did slightly better, announcing a flat and 1.5% decline in DPU year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter respectively.  Since my last rebalancing, the Mapletree family REITs comprised a much smaller allocation within my portfolio, thus I will just hold on to them to collect the dividends, with the hope of a eventful turnaround in time to come.

Next month, Frasers Logistics and Commercial Trust will be announcing its results.  I will not be too optimistic with its results, because other REITs with Australian properties, especially in the logistics sector like MLT, have not been showing great performances.  Therefore, I believe FLCT's performance will be largely subdued, or even disappointing.  I shall just look forward to its distributions, and ignore the near term volatility in share price.  In addition, next month will a great month where the bountiful dividends gets credited into my account.  Details of the dividends received for the quarter will be posted in the next quarterly updates.  

For this month, I injected SGD 0 capital into the portfolio, but I reinvested the dividends collected to buy the following shares:

SGX:    Aims Apac REIT

Total Portfolio Value has decline rather significantly by approximately 1.5% to around SGD 667K.  The decline is mainly due to the drop in share prices from the turbulence of the tariffs and trade war, and more importantly, the stability and the future of the USD and Treasury Bonds being doubted and challenged.  Personally, I am pleased that despite the volatility and noise, overall market value of my portfolio stayed above the SGD 600K mark (it did dip temporarily at the peak of fear at the onset of 'Liberation Day' to SGD 599K, before bouncing back rather quickly).  I am happy with my current portfolio allocation, and will just hold on to the portfolio to generate more dividends.  When opportunity arises, I will reinvest part of the dividends to compound my portfolio, with a smaller portion stashed away into a high yield savings account to prepare for my Barista FIRE journey.  For now, just looking forward to receiving the dividends in cash in upcoming month!