Cory Diary : STI Index that I understand ...

STI Index is Straits Times Index

The Straits Times Index (STI) is a market capitalisation weighted index that tracks the performance of the top 30 companies listed on SGX. It is jointly calculated by Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), Singapore Exchange (SGX) and FTSE Group (FTSE).

What this mean is when you buy ETF shares of this Index, you have exposure to this 30 companies. Below table obtained from SG Investor link here.

The Index regularly updated with new companies which replaced some companies in the index. Recent times, the Index has not been doing well. One of the reason I feel is lack of Tech stocks that we see in NASDAQ while Covid-19 do it's work on traditional companies. Another reason is that the process of company selection is not as fast as I feel it should. For example strong Reits comes in after they have risen much for years before they get to replace companies that should have been replaced long ago. Restricting to only 30 companies may have some constraints. Finally the last spanner  is the dividend restriction on the 3 main banks in the index which dampen the market further on STI Index.

Theoretically, the ETF of the index will be kind of perpetual. So I find this quite passive in management as there is no expiry or right issue in my experience. The more diversification nature also protect investor from significant losses as is mitigated by poor performance of a few.  The STI ETF I often use is ES3. To trade, the stock quote is ES3. At current time,  in my personal view rather than long term hold, ETF is more good for Timing Trade on lows such as down trend or when is tuning up. STI ETF shares are traded like any other equity. Last Friday it closed at $2.527. So for 1000 shares will be $2,527. 

Lastly, this ETF do give dividends. Usually Feb and August periods. In comparison to Reits, the yield is lower however the risk is that one could hit with EHT or Sabana ... and have your portfolio blow up. One don't view the risk high till really got hit. Nothing is free in this world .... maybe except fatherly (bias) loves.

Cheers                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Cory

2020-0920

Cory Diary : Dividends Shortfall

For those who miss my Aug Performance Report. Here you are.

Cory Portfolio Resilience


With the recent sales of Singtel and Mapletree NAC Tr, estimated dividends by year end will be reduced (updated for privacy) . This means potentially Cory Equity Portfolio may collect slightly lesser than Year 2018 despite bull year for Cory portfolio. Alamak ! Without saying it will be some distance from expected (updated for privacy)  target..... sigh !

Portfolio yield is at 4.6%. This is mainly due to STI ETF and Bonds/ Preference shares holding the values down which has seen significant expansion as I try to lock my happy returns to safer harbor. Another possible reason is that there are additional stakes in some counters which do not have dividends for the remainder of the year. One for yield, the other speculation.

Will gather some bullets and re-balancing. Hopefully I can do some magics to fix the issue.


Cheers

Cory
2019-0901

Cory Diary : Portfolio Resilience August Report

STI Index has major roller coaster rides this year. The most recent one is just this month when it erases all it this year winning and then creep back up a little to end at +1.23% YTD. After dividends, probably +4% range.

How did Cory Portfolio performs ? If we are to use the relative perform chart against STI, End Jun report is Here and Early Aug in Here. Iran conflict did not happen. I was trying to secure the widened gap. Let's look how it goes.

Year-to-Date

(updated for privacy) 

Cory Portfolio  : 15.8% which came down from 18.x% range 
excluding fixed instruments (ie bond)  : 19.2%.  This is mainly due to weakness in Banks, STI ETF and lastly Mapletree NAC Tr (Black-swan - HK Riots/RMB Depreciation).

(updated for privacy) 

Overall portfolio outperforms STI by 11.x% so far this year. There are some changes in portfolio mix which I will elaborate in later blogging.


Cory
2019-0830

Cory Diary : Trades - 2019-0809

I have been looking further into banks but find it not easy to buy more considering the interests rates are being talked down. Getting more Reits are a bit tricky. CMT and FCOT do have some lows past few weeks period but I do not have a chance to investigate further with my recent hospitalization. CMT yield is quite low so my keenness is limited and happy with what I have currently. Buying high yield with weak fundamental is risky. I rather leave my cash alone. They aren't the same league as Ascendas, Frasers, Mapletree or Capitaland breeds ...

STI Index

STI Index has seen rather dynamic swings whereas Cory portfolio has been rather mute. Other than Reits stability, I found could be the bonds which I have expanded to lock in some of my gains. A detail checks on my record I did do a smallish cash injection via my the other trading account. I did another cash injection  when STI went low again recently. This move up my STI Index allocation to more than 12% of my portfolio. This will also align to my interests if STI decides to move back up.

VICOM

As you may know, I have been ranting how small my exposure is in this counter. So I do some buying which boost my Portfolio Yield despite the price has run up this year. I feel there is sufficient positive to have a large stake in. I am more interested in their other businesses. So a bet there will be some growth while able to continue to support the dividend yield (excluding special dividends). This is quite an illiquid counter. You can't buy much and I suspect you can't do much shorts as the counter can spikes and you will be caught with pants down for a long time.

SIngtel

I have been holding from averaging down on Singtel till i see sufficient signs. The last one is the quarterly report which is kind of below expectation. This mean I need to wait for another quarter to review. Meantime, I reduce my stake further to lock in some gains YTD to buy more into Vicom. I almost decide to sell the remainder of Singtel to manage my counter numbers but decides otherwise as there could be rebound that I will hate to miss.

Netlink BNB Tr

As you may be aware . I am back on securing some from this counter. Frankly, the feeling is good as the price goes back up quicker than I expected. So is just a small moon in my bubble chart. Nevertheless, I am glad to be able to get some.

My family and I are very well vested in Singapore. We hope Singapore continues to prosper. So our wishes may this continues !

Happy National Day, Singapore !

Cory

2019-0809