Portfolio Update for May 2026

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

For the month of May, it was a relatively good month despite the news and volatility.  The old adage of “Sell in May and Go Away” seemed to be missing this year, especially when the US and Singapore markets have rebounded strongly back towards the high even when the US-Israel-Iran tensions have not technically ended.  US Treasury yields are hitting new highs, with the 10-year yields crossing above 4.5%, oil prices are still persistently high, and even the Singapore 1-month SORA is climbing up.  However the good earning results from major companies are supporting the financial markets (and under-performers are punished, like ComfortDelgro). Even with widespread retrenchment news, both globally and in Singapore, the stock markets are still inching up.  How long will this last before correction sets in, or recession hits, is anyone's guess.

Personally, the return of inflation is what worries me most, as it impacts both my equity portfolio and personal finance.  With rising prices, my monthly expenses may continue to inch up.  If inflation worsen, there is a high probability that FED, now helmed by new FED Chairman Kevin Warsh, may raise interest rates this year instead of the expected cut.  This is negative news for the REITs in my portfolio, though it may be balanced by the banks.  However, I understand how the macroenvironment turns out is beyond my control, I can only hope my personal finances remain healthy, and keep my expenses in check.

Closer to home, I made another major rebalancing move within my SG Dividend Portfolio.  As blogged earlier, I have sold all my holdings in Hong Leong Finance (HLF).  Personally I just thought that the revamp by HLF is way too slow, and hence decided to deployed the sale proceeds into other dividend paying companies and REITs that have better future prospects in my personal opinion.  Whether this is the right move or not can be verified in time to come.  In addition, with the release of the earnings of the companies and REITs and Trusts, all the dividends for the second quarter has been announced, and I am ecstatic that the dividends that I will be receiving for this quarter is approximately 16.0% higher than the same period last year.  This is partly due to the advanced distribution announced by CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust (CICT) due to the Private Placement conducted to purchase Paragon at Orchard from Cuscaden Peak.  Excluding this advance distribution, the quarterly distribution will be 7.8% higher instead.  Details of the dividends received will be announced next month in my portfolio's quarterly updates.

For this month, I injected approximately MYR 2.5k capital into the portfolio, and used the sale proceeds to buy the following shares:

SGX:    Aims Apac REIT

             CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust

             ComfortDelgro

             HRNetGroup

             Riverstone

             ParkwayLife REIT

MYR:   Maybank

             Public Bank


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

SGX:    Kimly


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

SGX:    Hong Leong Finance

            Mapletree Pan-Asia Commercial Trust

Total SG Portfolio Value has increased by approximately 2.9% to around SGD 767K, which is a new all time high value, while total MY Portfolio Value has decreased by approximately 0.7% to around MYR 32.1K, including capital injected to the portfolio.  The increase in SG Portfolio Value is mainly due to performance by the banks, namely Development Bank of Singapore (DBS) and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC), which has both reached all time high levels this month.  Another special mention has to be made for Aims Apac REIT, which has also risen to all time high levels with their good results and increasing distribution, which made me hesitant to add more.  Waiting for retracement has been painful, as the prices just continue to charge higher.  On the contrary, banks in MY portfolio were responsible for the decline in portfolio value, due to lackluster results from Maybank, which caused its share price to plunge by 4% in a single day.  For now, I shall just continue to sit back, relax, and wait for dividends collection in June, while at the meantime, waiting for any meaningful retracement to reinvest part of my dividends!

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