Portfolio with the year ending 31-12-2017

It is obvious that most bloggers will be sharing their year-end results as we have arrived to the last day of 2017. It was a good year for global equities and it would be a shame to have missed this opportunity.

In the early months, I have sold stakes in DBS, City Dev, FCOT, CRCT and FCL at decent margins. As they are common well known stocks, it is not hard to notice them (though City Dev was never seen in any portfolio I have witnessed). At the same time, I re-invested the profits to under-appreciated shares like Singtel and Wilmar.

The biggest mistake in timing was to invest in ComfortdelGro when it was around $2.47. I exited it at a slight loss with no regrets before it got worst in the later months. However, I believed its share price may recover one day given some time (but I prefer to park my money elsewhere with perhaps faster possible returns). In the same year, there were short term trades made which led to further contra losses.

With STI’s "slower" returns as compared to overseas equities such as USA, my STI portfolio earnings were eroded by the losses mentioned above and this led to an overall average performance in Singapore.

I was however “lucky” to have ventured my risk appetite overseas and more specifically the great America. This not only boosted the overall portfolio performance in 2017, it was like a comeback feat when days left in 2017 were numbered. In case anyone is wondering if my portfolio consists of cyptocurrencies, the answer is no as of now while my view on it is pretty neutral. 

In October 2017, this stock pick came after some tedious analysis and it paid off in effort and luck. I bought a small holding at USD47.47 for 2 months, selling it at a 43.45% profit. Could it have been sold earlier, it would have been a 50%+ profit. What I have learnt and experienced here is how currency conversions gains/losses can really impact your earnings, the same it does to companies we have studied so often. In recent days, I have to let go of FSLR for 4 good reasons: 

1) the great gains in share price may lose its poise soon due to profit taking. 

2) The price is no longer cheap and attractive. 

3) There is a lack of possible near catalyst other than further contract wins due to its newly introduced Series 6 modules. 

4) Due to its volatility, it may be necessary for the price to first dip before it can rise higher to break resistance at USD70.65.

All in all, the overall portfolio performance had almost double the performance in 2016 and I am quite pleased with this jump. Despite the satisfactory returns, I did not managed to beat the STI index in 2017 when it was achieved in 2016. Since 2017 has been so well for the equity markets, it will be harder for it to be brighter in 2018. Thus, it may be a realistic aim to maintain a similar target return in 2018 as 2017.

Investments portfolio in 2017 (based on current investment amount + deducted commission fees + currency conversions gains/losses + dividends):

Overall Portfolio:
• Total Realized + Paper Gain: 12.71% (includes paper losses in current market)

• Overall Realized Gain:  14.46%  (excludes returns in current market) - First Chart shown

By Region:

Portfolio in STI index:

• Overall Realized Gain:  6.97%
• Total Realized + Paper Gain: 5.22%

Portfolio in NASDAQ Index:

• Overall Realized Gain:  34.4% (43.45% deducting conversion loss and commission fees)