S&P500 hits the highest last seen in Aug 2022! Should we buy, hold or sell? (3 Jun 23)

Dear all First of all, apologies for the hiatus in posting new market outlook on my blog. I have been extremely busy for the past three months. My clients can attest to how busy I have been. I have been sending out my market views and news even on weekends and on public holidays. 😊 With reference to my previous writeup published on 26 Feb 2023 (click HERE), I mentioned that I planned to pare positions so that I can accumulate on weakness. In retrospect, it was a timely call. I was fortunate that I have pared my positions so […]

Sep – Historically a weak month for equities. Buy, hold or sell? (6 Sep 2022)

Dear all, After touching an intraday high 4,325 on 16 Aug 22, S&P500 has slid 401 points, or -9.3% to 3,924 on 2 Sep. Hang Seng has slid to around 19,144 at the time of writing. Given the market pullback, there are several interesting stocks worthy of research. Coupled with various macro events happening this month (e.g. ECB & Fed Chair Powell Speaks 8 Sep; U.S CPI 13 Sep and FOMC 22 Sep etc.), I have to plan my trading strategy. Give the above, time is tight and this will be just be a brief article to update readers. (As […]

Numerous trading opportunities as Singapore corporates report results (9 Aug 2022)

Dear all, Happy National Day! How has your portfolio been year to date? With reference to my writeup published on 3 Jul 2022 (click HERE), I mentioned that there are likely to be opportunities in the next few weeks. Post my writeup, S&P500 touched an intraday low of 3,722 on 14 Jul before closing up 418 points or 11.2% at 4,140 yesterday. In fact, S&P500 posted its best monthly gain in July, since Nov 2020. STI touched an intraday low of 3,088 on 15 Jul before trading up 183 points or 5.9% at 3,271 yesterday. Our Singapore banks started to […]

Markets – market opportunities may materialise in the next few weeks (3 Jul 2022)

Dear all, I have been extremely busy with work. In my line of work (i.e., stock broking), we may have numerous trading ideas but we always face severe time constraints every day. My clients can attest to the numerous messages and information which I send out daily (Nevertheless, I do remind clients to exercise their due diligence on such information which I send as they are general in nature and may not be suitable to one’s specific risk profile etc.) For my readers, thanks for the patience and for viewing my blog which unfortunately, is not updated as frequently as […]

Markets – diverging signs from technicals and fundamentals. What should we do? (4 Apr 2022)

Dear all March has been a roller coaster month. Hong Kong market, represented by Hang Seng index touched multi-year lows around 14-15 Mar and has rebounded approximately 21% from the intraday lows. S&P500 performed well too with a third consecutive weekly rise. With reference to my writeup (click HERE) published on 6 Mar 2022, I mentioned that a) Odds are likely of a downward push first I mentioned that based on chart, odds are higher for a downwards move for both S&P500 and STI, to retest the previous support around 4,115 – 4,222 and 3,138 – 3,200 (with 3,175 a […]

STI is up 10.1% YTD; may face profit taking in the near-term (16 Feb 2022)

Dear all STI has been on a tear since the start of the year. With reference to my write-up published on 5 Jan 2022 (click HERE) citing that Asian indices are likely to outperform that of the U.S. market in 2022, STI has indeed notched strong year to date (“YTD”) gains of 10.1% to close 3,439 on 16 Feb 2022. This outperformance is especially stark if we compare it to S&P500’s -6.1% YTD returns. As I have shared with Lianhe Zaobao on 9 Feb 2022, I personally feel that our STI is overbought in the near term with several near-term […]

Will Singapore stocks outperform U.S. stocks in 2022? (5 Jan 2022)

Dear all With reference to my market outlook published on 7 Nov (see HERE) citing our Singapore market may face near term profit taking, STI dropped 201 points, or 6.6% from 3,242 on 5 Nov to close at 3,041 on 30 Nov. As we start 2022, various investment banks and research houses have put forth their views on how the various markets will perform. In this write-up, I will share how the markets have performed in 2021 and my market outlook in 2022.   How did the markets perform in 2021? Based on Table 1 below, it is evident that […]

STI at 3,051 – Presents some attractive opportunities (3 Oct 2021)

Dear all With reference to my market outlook published on National Day (see HERE), both STI and Hang Seng have hit their highs on 10 Aug and 11 Aug respectively before dipping. Based on Table 1 below, S&P500, Hang Seng and STI have fallen 1.8%, 6.1% and 4.0% respectively since my writeup. Table 1: Indices’ performance since my last writeup Source: Ernest’s compilations Amid the recent weakness, you may be wondering whether it is a good time to accumulate on weakness. Before we get to this, let’s take a look at the indices’ charts.   S&P500 closed 4,357 Based on […]

Sembmarine – leveraged play among oil companies (29 Apr 19)

Dear all, This week, Sembcorp marine (“SMM”) caught my attention amid positive industry reports and its strengthening chart. I have started to accumulate SMM with my usual take profit target of a few bids, if any. Let’s look at the basis, and importantly, the investment risks.   Basis a) Analysts are turning positive Based on Figure 1 below, average analyst target price for SMM is around $1.93, representing a potential capital appreciation of around 12% from the current price $1.72. It is noteworthy that JP Morgan has turned positive on SMM last month with a target price of $2.10, after […]

Brexit – which are the companies most exposed to UK? (15 Jun 16)

Dear all At the time of writing this article, STI has tumbled 121 points, or 4.2% from an intraday high of 2,882 on 9 Jun 2016 to trade at 2,761 on 15 Jun 2016. With Brexit’s concerns hanging over the equity markets like a sword of Damocles, I believe it is apt to review which are the companies with significant exposure to UK. According to a UOB Kayhian report dated today, Ascott Reit, City Development, CDL Hospitality, Comfort Delgro, Fraser Hospitality Trust, Ho Bee and SembCorp Industries were cited as companies with significant exposure to UK. (See Table 1 below) […]