OCBC Scrip Dividend

It has come to the time again where we must decide about whether to take the scrip dividend. This time, I think it is a good consideration to take up the offer which is $9.57 per share, which was cheaper than the last scrip dividend offer. It is also below the current NAV of $10 which looks good. Current price is about 10.49 and the last offer for scrip dividend was $10.55.

It would be great if you can leave a comment if you will be taking up the offer. Cheers!

Mapletree NAC Thoughts

I am of the view that there will be a short term drop in Mapletree NAC's price.

Chief of all, the growing instability in HK is something to worry about. which impacts its main property Festival Walk, which constitutes 62% of our reit's NPI (based on the most recent annual report). This might lead to lower sales in the mall and lower NPI, which will affect our dividend payout.

Secondly, USD looks poised for a rate cut soon, and if we assume the USDHKD peg to hold, then HKD should depreciate against SGD, which might also contribute to a lower NPI.

Thirdly, the RMB has weakened quite a fair bit to 5.12 against SGD which will also adversely affect the NPI for China properties in the reit's portfolio.

On the other hand, the drop might be mitigated by Japan properties, where JPY appreciated sharply against SGD due the yen being a safe haven currency and everybody flocking to it during trade war concerns. The takeup in yen is so extensive that nearly all of their bonds are now having negative yield which signals the extensive demand for yen.

Of course, let us not forget that approximately 69% of forex conversions have been hedged, so we are dealing with approximately 31% of risk here.

Currently, NAV is at 1.438 which is about a 13 cents premium from its current price of 1.3. I will be looking to wait for it to drop to its 52-week low of 1.07 (although might be too difficult to wait for).

What are your thoughts about the pluses and minuses? Please share!

Market Thoughts

Recently, there have been a lot of ups and downs in the market. The first thing that caught my eye was the falling yuan which broke the seven level against the US dollar, which signaled the current monetary policy in China. The casualties today were Mapletree NAC which dropped 4.48% and CapitaR China which dropped 1.99%. The drop in RMB also meant it dropped against SGD which means it will affect the two reits' profits.

Hong Kong also saw the escalation of protests in the airport where Cathay Pacific got the brunt in the falling HK market. It dropped about 7-8% these few days as flights were blocked.

But interestingly, US market has rebounded today due to simmering of US-China trade tensions and yields and stocks prices are soaring.

I am focusing on Bank of China at the moment which is 2.97 HKD and giving a 7% yield. At point of writing, SGDHKD is 5.67 which might go lower if USD is going to strengthen further this year (assuming if USDHKD peg remains intact).

Moreover, SIA seems to be an interesting point too since the HK airport protests will affect airlines (albeit not as much as Cathay),  but currently at 9.05 and today had a 52-week low of 8.95.

Probably HK market will rebound (briefly) due to the rebound in the US. But I believe in the short term the HK market is probably going to breach new lows as the protests do not seem to be subsiding.

STI and HSI Red Amidst the Trade War

A short read today showed that the STI plunged 2% due to escalating tensions in the US-China trade war. This could be contributed to the tariffs which Trump promised on Friday, which includes a 10% tariffs on US$300 billion worth of goods. On the contrary, the Federal rate cut did not give the expected stimulus to the stock market, which might not be unexpected as based on current market conditions, a rate hike should have been more logical.

As I am very interested in the STI constituents, I decided to see which stocks were bearing the brunt today.

The first stock is SIA which is hovering near its 52-week low of 9.01. At this point of writing, its current price is 9.02.

The second stock (which I have mentioned before) is SATS which is hovering near its 52-week low of 4.55. At this point of writing, its current price is 4.74.

Other notable stocks include DBS which had a 3.2% drop today.

Another point of interest will be the HK market, where today, 5th of August, is notably the biggest strike in Hong Kong's history. I think it is a double whammy for HK as they have to deal with the twin reasons of the trade war and the ongoing protests.

I am currently looking at Bank of China, which has broken its previous 52-week low of 3.19 to 3.05, which makes it even more appealing to go in. (Let us bear in mind that BOC is actually based in China and is just a H-share) I will be looking at other HK banks but I will be probably avoiding those banks based in HK such as the BOC (HK) holdings and Hang Seng Bank etc.

Just a superficial thought.