Ernest Lim's investing blog

Unique insights into SGX small caps

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S&P500 has rebounded 31% from 23 Mar 20! Time to buy, hold or sell (19 Apr 20)?

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S&P500 has staged a whopping 683 points, or 31% rebound from its intraday low of 2,192 to close 2,875 on 17 Apr 20. Many clients have asked me (almost daily) whether we have already seen the bottom and is this a good time to buy stocks etc. At 2,875, S&P500 is just 15% away from its record intraday high of 3,394 on 19 Feb 2020. The rally in Wall Street is at a stark contrast to grim news from Main Street in terms of job losses; significant number of deaths from Covid 19; lockdowns and poor corporate results. Both bull […]

Nasdaq – potential bearish head and shoulders formation in the making? (29 Sep 19)

el15

With reference to my earlier write-up (click HERE) titled “S&P500 at 2,979 – limited potential upside (8 Sep 19)”, S&P500 touched intraday highs of 3,021 – 3,022 on 12 Sep 2019 and 19 Sep 2019 but it was still lower than the record intraday high of 3,028 on 26 July 2019. S&P500 closed at 2,962 on 27 Sep 2019. Hang Seng and STI touch one-month intraday highs on 13 Sep 2019 before profit taking sets in. October is likely a volatile month ahead given (just to cite a few examples) more news on trade talks (e.g. U.S vs China; U.S. […]

S&P500 at 2,979 – limited potential upside (8 Sep 19)

el15

With reference to my earlier write-up (click HERE) titled “Why am I cautious going into July…”, July was coincidentally the peak for S&P500. Hang Seng touched an intraday high of 29,008 on 4 Jul 2019 before slumping 4,108 points to an intraday low of 24,900 on 15 Aug 2019 (Hang Seng closed at 26,691 on 6 Sep 2019.) Personally, given the current market levels and information, I am not comfortable to raise my current percentage invested from 53% to significant levels (say >80%). Why am I cautious in the market? Do read on…   Factors supporting my cautious basis Above […]

Why am i cautious going into July… (2 Jul 19)

el15

Dear all, With reference to my market write-up published on 29 May 2019 (click HERE), where I mentioned that the sell-off in the markets revealed interesting trading opportunities, markets coincidentally bottomed on 3 Jun 2019 and staged a strong recovery. I have already sold into strength and reduced my percentage invested in stocks from 150% in early June to 12% now. Personally, I am cautious in the market going into July. Why is this so?   Basis below 1) Markets jumped yesterday following the U.S. / China trade truce announced over the weekend, despite the lack of details on what […]

STI has dropped almost 17% since 2 May! Is a bear market coming? (14 Oct 18)

el15

Dear all, U.S. equity markets have logged their worst weekly performance in the past six months. For our local market, STI has dropped 16.7% from an intra-day high of 3,642 on 2 May 2018 to an intra-day low of 3,035 on 11 Oct 2018. It closed at 3,069 on 12 Oct 2018. Is a bear market coming? There are mixed views. Bears are saying that we have not reached the bottom yet. Some perma-bears are even saying this may be the start of the bear market. Bulls are saying that this represents a window of opportunity to accumulate stocks on […]

STI notched a ten year high on 2 May – is it a screaming buy for all SG stocks (11 May 18)

el15

Dear all, Dow has logged a seventh consecutive rise and small caps as measured by S&P600 index have just closed at a record high as of 11 May 2018. Our Singapore market has also done us proud too by becoming Asia’s best performing equity market on 2 May 2018. In view of the above, is it a screaming buy for our Singapore market, especially our small caps which have under-performed? Let’s take a closer look at the charts and my personal action plan.   S&P500 closed 2,728. Day range 2,717 – 2,733 Based on Chart 1 below, S&P500 seems to […]

5 facts you must know before your next property investment (Feb 2018)

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5 facts you must know before your next property investment (Guest post) Over the past 3 months, the media has been reporting mostly good news about the Singapore Property Market and Local Property Brokers have been upbeat about the property market. Against a backdrop of what looks like a very promising – The Great Singapore Upgrade for the Property Market, this article attempts to provide deep insights that investors should consider as well as questions investors should be asking. Below are three facts which most investors already know in the Singapore Residential Property Market : 1. Transaction volumes are increasing […]

Sapphire – disposal of Mancala, implications and updates (30 Dec 16)

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On the last trading day of the year, Sapphire Corp announced that it has entered into conditional sale and purchase agreements (collectively, the “SPAs”) with each of China Vanadium Titano-Magnetite Mining Company Limited (“CVT”) and Toe Teow Heng (“TTH”) relating to its mining services business, Mancala. Is this a positive or negative development? What are the implications? Let’s take a closer look.   Disposal of Mancala and its implications Subject to the terms and conditions of the SPAs, CVT and TTH have agreed to acquire 49% and 32% of the issued and paid up capital of Mancala Holdings for a […]