Portfolio Update for July 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 July, it remained a volatile month.  The US-Israel-Iran war in the Middle East seems never-ending and the issues keep popping up once in a while with no resolve in sight.  After brent oil prices retreated to USD 70s earlier this month, now it's back to USD 80s level.  Once again, fear of inflation returned, and 10-year yield spike up once again, reigniting rumors of interest rate hikes by the FED.  How it will turn out eventually remains to be seen, but at the same time, Trump is back with the tariffs.  However, this time the markets were calm regarding tariff news, probably due to the many "TACO" events in the past.  

Closer to home, rotation of the funds brought the STI to all time highs for most of the month, but in the last two trading days, fear of AI correction subsided, and funds probably moved out of the Singapore market back to Korea and US, causing some selling pressure in the local market.  In addition, the earnings season have also started for companies listed locally.  Thus far, Mapletree family of REITs, CapitaLand Ascott Trust (CLAST) and Aims Pact REIT (AAR) have released their results.  Mapletree family of REITs were within expectations, with Mapletree Logistics Trust performing the best, reporting a 0.2% year-on-year increase in distribution per unit (DPU), while Mapletree Industrial Trust announced a 4.9% year-on-year decline in DPU and Mapletree Pan-Asia Commercial Trust reported a 2.5% year-on-year decline in DPU.  For these 3 REITs, I have temporarily placed them in my 'freezer', waiting for recovery while collecting dividends.  CLAST on the other hand, reported a flat year-on-year DPU due to periodic items, which is considered relatively stable (however core DPU dropped by 10% due to timing differences in acquisitions and divestments, as well as asset enhancement initiatives).  The only bright spot comes from Aims Apac REIT, reported a 2.5% year-on-year increase in DPU.

This month I also started a new position, buying into Keppel DC REIT (KDC).  Although I already indirectly held shares in KDC in CFA ETF, I think buying into KDC directly will help to increase my portfolio's exposure to the Artificial Intelligence sector, as KDC is regarded as an AI infrastructure stock.  With a forward dividend yield of around 5.1%, this will help to boost my annual dividend income in the future.  

I will be looking forward to the earnings release by others, especially the banks and ParkwayLife REIT in upcoming months.  Hopefully the distributions to be announced will be positive, which will help to bring me one step closer to my goal of SGD 36K annual dividends in 2026.  Details of the dividends received will be announced later at the end of the September in my portfolio's quarterly updates.

For this month, I did not inject any capital into both the SG and MY portfolio, and I reinvested dividends into the following shares:

SGX:    Keppel DC REIT

Total SG Portfolio Value has increased by approximately 7.1% to around SGD 834K, which is a new all time high value, while total MY Portfolio Value has decreased by approximately 4.0% to around MYR 32.9K.  The increase in SG Portfolio Value is mainly due to performance by the 3 banks, which have reached all time high levels this month, before retracing at the end of the month.  Similarly, banks in MY portfolio were responsible for the uptrend in portfolio value, specifically Public Bank, which has reached all time high this month as well, before retracing slightly at the end of the month.  For now, I shall just continue to sit back, relax, and wait for dividends collection in August, while at the meantime, waiting for any meaningful retracement to reinvest part of my dividends!  

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