Halcyon Agri share price suffered horrendous train wreck

Despite being hailed as the world largest listed rubber supply chain manager, Halcyon Agri is ironically seldom covered by stock analysts in Singapore. In recent years, the company had experienced quite a massive transformation that saw them being acquired by China big boy, Sinochem. As a result, total revenue rocketed from $635 million in FY2014 to an amazing $2.66 billion in FY2017. Nonetheless, Halcyon Agri share price suffered a serious loss of form recently. What on earth has happened?

In investing, the key to winning is investing in companies with top market positions because you would want to invest in companies with competitive advantages and investment moats. Halcyon Agri has certainly positioned itself well by becoming the biggest listed rubber supply chain manager. But this does not mean that this counter is low-risk. On the contrary, the volatility of Halcyon Agri share price had been giving investors plenty of sleepless nights in 2018.

As a commodity supply chain player, Halcyon Agri share price can be vulnerable to the volatility of commodity prices. What this means is that market timing is important. So, you must set appropriate entry and exit strategies to avoid losing your pants.

Profile of Halcyon Agri

Halcyon Agri’s business model is unique because it not only procures raw natural rubber from smallholders to feed their processing facilities, the company also owns about 122,000 hectares of rubber plantations in West Africa and Malaysia.

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Yanlord share price tumbled 30%

From a high of $1.86 in early 2018, PRC-based Yanlord share price suffered a severe decline to reach a startling low of $1.29. The crash of Yanlord share price is particularly mystifying given that it came on the back of a consistently solid financial results over the last 5 years.

Is the current Yanlord share price reflecting the true value of the real estate company or is the God of Wealth playing a trick on investors? To be frank, the issue facing Yanlord is not company-specific. Rather, the whole S-chip industry is currently suffering from a crisis of confidence among investors.

Loss of faith in S-chips

The lack of confidence in S-chips is not new and has been a well-known recurring problem in Singapore stock market for the past decade. It had been a devastating period of time as investors had lost much wealth when errant S-chips either went into financial difficulties or were “creative” in their accounting. As a matter of fact, the SGX Watch-list is littered with so many dead S-chips while there were cases of S-chips embroiled in corporate scandals.

Yanlord share price

Recent move by SGX regulators to require new S-chips to have cornerstone investors or state-owned enterprise brings cold comfort to investors as well.

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Golden Agri Resources share price crashed to 10-year low

Golden Agri Resources holds a special place in my heart. This is the only blue chip which I tried to trade and subsequently lost $1200 in a single day more than 10 years ago. I can still remember that raw feeling when cutting losses on this counter. At the end of the day, I knew that I had made a mistake and decided to move on. Incidentally, Golden Agri Resources share price hit a low of 10 year recently. So I decided to initiate a review on this palm oil producer.

On looking back, losing money in stocks is never a good feeling but I had gained a lot of valuable lessons. Firstly, I had mentioned that there is no such a thing as good or bad stocks because in life, there are only flawed or right strategies.

At that point of time, I suffered losses on Golden Agri Resources because I had not done sufficient homework. I had failed to see that Golden Agri Resources operate in a cyclical industry and the shares are therefore prone to volatility. If I had held on the stock for a few more years, I would have enjoyed substantial capital gain because Golden Agri Resources share price had ridden on the wave of high crude oil prices and surged to new highs.

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Will gold price return to crazy high form?

Will gold price ever return to its crazy high form? The recent meltdown of Asian Pay TV Trust (APTT) share price must have depressed many investors. Indeed, the Straits Times Index (STI), as a whole, had been performing poorly in 2018. Wealth builders who had ignored the wisdom of diversifying their portfolio in different assets are paying a heavy price now. Should stock investors run for their lives and shift their attention to gold instead?

Recent stock market corrections do not represent a full-blown crisis. But it does not reflect a signal for investors to enter the stock market either. Wealth builders should heed the warning and start insulating their portfolios against the risks unfolding in the market. You certainly don’t want to be caught with your pants down when there is a violent stock market correction.

BullionStar

Then again, it is naïve to assume that the current unrest in the stock markets would lead to higher gold price in the coming months. This is because gold price is intricately linked to the monetary system, financial markets and central bank policies. In short, the drivers for gold price are not as simple as one would think.

Long seen as a safe haven, gold is often regarded as the asset to hold in times of uncertainties.

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Buying Silver as an investment in Singapore

The market for purchasing a variety of precious metals in Singapore has steadily increased in the last few years due to the removal of income tax or capital gains tax on imported investment grade precious metals such as gold and silver.

Investors are keen to take advantage of the savings they can make to ensure their deposits are even more profitable. Many of the products available include silver ingots but large numbers of silver coins are being imported from different countries around the world. Some of the coins have beautiful designs and are becoming popular as investments with collectors. You will probably recognise some of them fairly easily but others may be a little more obscure.

Silver

Canadian Maple Leaf

This incredibly popular coin was launched in 1988 and is produced by the Royal Canadian Mint. It has the country’s national symbol of the Maple Leaf on the front and overleaf has a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.

Fiji Silver Taku

The beautifully etched turtle featured on this coin has seen it become an instant hit since its launch in 2010. It is issued on behalf of Fiji’s government by the Sunshine Minting Inc.

Australian Kangaroo

The purity of silver in this striking coin is 99.99%.

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Asian Pay Television Trust (APTT) share price on red alert

Call it sheer madness or whatsoever. Within the span of two days, Asian Pay Television Trust (APTT) share price plunged by nearly 50%. Investors with weaker hearts might have suffered serious heart attacks watching in horror at the meltdown of Asian Pay Television (APTT) share price. After all, you don’t often get to see value of business trusts being eroded by so much in a matter of days. Well, that’s investing in SGX stocks for you.

In my previous article, Asian Pay Television Trust dances with the wolves, I wrote that investors should “hope for the best but expect the worst”. I was also bearish on this counter as I was not convinced that the management had the ability to turn around the trust. My view was that the unit price would come under further pressure. Recent Asian Pay Television Trust (APTT) share price vindicated my thesis.

As the saying goes, cheap things don’t come good and good things don’t come cheap. When a business trust is trading at such abysmal level, the price level may not represent value. There are investors who insisted on accumulating more units of Asian Pay Television Trust instead of cutting losses. Well, they had better be sure of what they are buying into.

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Frasers Property Bond and CapitaMall Bond

Another day, another market correction. The recent stock market performance must have freaked out many investors new to the game. Long-term investors and financial bloggers should be having great difficulties sleeping well at night as their stock portfolio plunged in value. Should stock investors run for their lives and turn to bonds like Frasers Property Bond and CapitaMall Bond?

In the pursuit of investment returns, many had ignored the age-old wisdom of wealth diversification. In this article, the investment merits of retail bonds (Frasers Property Bond and CapitaMall Bond) and government-linked bonds are discussed.

Frasers Property

Dark side of bonds

Most wealth builders dismiss bond investing because of the perceived low yields and illiquidity. Furthermore, investing in bonds is less exciting than stocks, which is comparatively more dynamic. In my perspective, I am not a big fan of bonds either because I am currently at the asset accumulation life-stage. However, as a fixed-income asset, bonds could offer a viable form of financial instrument, especially for retirement planning purposes.

In 2018, Temasek Holdings decided to join in the fun by offering the Astrea IV Private Equity Bond (4.35%) and the Temasek Retail Bond with 2.7% interest. The difference between the two is that the former is not guaranteed by Temasek Holdings or its subsidiaries while the latter is guaranteed by Temasek Holdings.

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Sembcorp Marine share price see red

The past is history and the future remain a mystery. Would Sembcorp Marine continue to fulfil its destiny as the world no.2 oil rig builder or would it collapse in style? Sembcorp Marine share price is set for a roller-coaster ride as the company faces yet another explosive full-year loss for FY2018. The last time Sembcorp Marine reported an annual loss was in FY2015, which saw it recording a massive loss of $289 million.

For sure, the winter had lasted longer than expected. It has been four years since Sembcorp Marine share price was trading at $4.00. Currently trading at $1.66, Sembcorp Marine share price is a shadow of its former self.

Although Sembcorp Marine is operating in a cyclical industry, there is no guarantee that the share price would restore to its heyday form. Should investors throw in the towel or keep faith with the management? In my view, I fear the worst for Sembcorp Marine share price if things do not improve in the coming quarters because of its grim financial data. In this regard, investors should brace themselves for a potential meltdown of Sembcorp Marine share price.

Sembcorp Marine

A whole new world

On looking back, 2018 has proven to be another false dawn for Sembcorp Marine as recovering oil price has not revived the global demand for new oil rigs.

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Programming your mind to financial success

Have you ever been told that you are stupid and that you will never achieve financial success? I ever did suffer from such traumatic experience when my Chemistry tutor (who happened to be my civic tutor) labelled me as “stupid” in front of the class during a laboratory experiment.

In life, our encounters and experiences shape our perspectives. Subconsciously, the actions and words of those around us could have significant impacts on us,  though they may not harbour any ill-intentions. To achieve financial success, we need to overcome such negativity.

But simply telling people who are slow to “buck up” or “work harder” will not serve to motivate that person to improve. Conversely, you are likely to trigger a defensive mechanism than inspiring him to change for the better.

In this article, I will share my insights on how we can achieve financial success by programming our mind to accomplish greater things. Read on if you are interested to become a better wealth builder and achieve financial success in your life.

In school, we don’t learn such stuff. And nobody ever coached me on mind programming. Thus, when I was being labelled as “stupid”, I felt lost. But through this blog, I hope to encourage fellow Singaporeans to become a better version of themselves.

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Return of the Structured Deposit and Structured Note

For many years, the loose monetary policy of United States led to a period of low interest rates across many countries, fuelling investors’ interest for alternative high yield products to grow their wealth. Singapore is no exception. Since 2014, Structured Products like Structured Deposit and Structured Note had been making their way back into Singapore market due to the low interest rate environment. Local banks have been promoting these financial products to satisfy investors lust for yields.

While Structured Deposit and Structured Note are in vogue (again), it does not mean you should throw all caution to the wind. On the contrary, you must understand the catch behind such alternative products to avoid losing your hard-earned money.

structured deposit

Era of wealth

Many wealth builders would recall that Structured Products like Minibonds and High Notes 5 were notorious for triggering the Great Financial Crisis in 2008. Thousands of Singaporeans lost their life savings when they bought these risky products, which they thought to be safe instruments.

As a result of the financial crisis, Monetary Authority Singapore (MAS) banned these products for a period of time to conduct investigations on whether the financial institutions selling these products complied to the guidelines and regulations. The bans were lifted shortly after the completion of the investigations.

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