Trade wars and buying banks Skip to main content

Trade wars and buying banks

The recent trade wars have caused the markets to be extremely volatile, one week down 5%, the next week back up 5% and we can see sector rotations playing out on the STI. 

Currently am at 60/40 invested vs cash and am selling some of my small caps positions that don't have alot of price buffer, in order to rotate them into stronger blue chips like DBS, Capitaland (now Asia's largest property company after the merger with Ascendas).

REIT prices have gone through the roof and investors seek safer havens in this turbulent times, which prices out any entry point. Best to wait for dips in the local banks, especially if the price to book ratio is close to crisis levels. Anyway my investment horizon is 20 years, so I'll be buying at every half integer level.

The saying "Sell in May and go away" really doesn't apply for me. It's more like "Buy in May. Dips are you friends".

It's funny, every year I notice that DBS offers 15% trading commission rebates around the May/June period. I guess it's to drive trading volume in low volume period, which I'll gladly take.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Hotel Review: Novotel Halong Bay

As I travel quite often for work, I’m going to keep a record of all the hotels I’ve stayed in, to serve as a reminder of what works and what doesn’t. It’ll make future bookings much easier. Unfortunately there was no SPG/Marriott hotel in Halong Bay area, so i ended up with Novotel. Location: Along the western side of Halong, right across some ongoing construction. Room: Decor is dark wooden, taking a spin on modern Chinese. Wood flooring and a huge king size bed that's abit hard and uncomfortable. I like the decor though. Gym: This has got to be the saddest hotel gym i've ever seen. I decided to run outside instead. Breakfast: The selection is so limited, and it's not even that good. Nice decor though. Would I return? Definitely not to this 4 star hotel. Thankfully I was only here for 1 night. Although the place is filled with Korean tourists, you can eat some basic Korean breakfast here, but that's not my preference.

Hotel Review: Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Bangkok

As I travel quite often for work, I’m going to keep a record of all the hotels I’ve stayed in, to serve as a reminder of what works and what doesn’t. It’ll make future bookings much easier. Location:  Right at the Asok BTS, across from Terminal 21 and the Westin.  I think traffic in this area is too jammed, and will likely avoid in the future. Room:   The bed is very comfortable, but the decor is quite old school.  The room feels like parts of it has been modernized, but parts of it are still the same as when the hotel was built.  The whole scheme doesn't gel. The bathroom is also dated and in need of upgrade.  Who uses small tiles like this in bathrooms nowadays?  This is so 1990s. Gym:  It has a couple ellipticals and a couple treadmills.  Not much selection of weight machines and the space is rather crammed.  The decor is seriously old school 1990s, but I think all Sheratons are like this. Breakfast:  The selectio...

Your circle of friends

I group my friends into 3 categories. Family: Those who are dearest to your heart.  They will always come first. True friends:  Those who you can always count on, no matter the distance or the time spent apart.  They will always be there for you, to lend a listening ear, to share your feelings, to guide you through life.  They may have different interests and lifestyles, but you share an unbreakable bond. Lifestyle friends: People whom you hang out with for certain type of activities, and discussions and banter will be limited to those activities.  Conversations will probably center around your common activities.  Lifestyles change, hence this group of friends will also change. When you're dead, people won't remember you.  Celebrate people's presence when they're alive.  Appreciate them and spend time with them.  There's no point in throwing a bigass funeral to commemorate a life. It's over anyway.  You should had made your ...