Singapore Stocks Stink

Hardly anyone trades Singapore stocks these days. There simply are not enough stocks in volume that can be traded.

Indeed, what is done in the Singapore Stock Exchange is perplexing - why would they introduce a minimum trading price and watch-list for stocks that do not meet volume and minimum price requirement, when the issue is low trading volume. Indeed, steps should be done to increase the volume of stocks traded, which include abolition of standard lots.

It's as if we have a nuclear fallout in Singapore Exchange...

There is a deeper problem in Singapore stocks, though. Around half Straits Times Index component stocks are mainly government-linked, and a few are land and property developers and commodity trading firms. I feel that the Singapore stock exchange is not reflective of our economy, because the technology and biomedical sectors, important engines to our economy that reflects our dynamic economy better, are not represented enough in the Straits Times Index. Indeed, our economy might as well be controlled in either Hong Kong/Shanghai or New York/London/Frankfurt.

I do not suggest investing in Singapore stocks. Singapore-based stock investors could still keep a tab in long-term investment paths, those firms with long-term strategies that are actually well executed (e.g. DBS, CapitaLand, ST Engineering). Even with good management, I shall always wait for a better time to long the company. When the market is heading sideways, it is better for me to avoid Singapore markets completely.

Singapore markets do indeed stink!

Stock Investments

Investing in stocks is for you - who seek to tell the story for a long time.

Stocks are not where you get the highest returns for your investments in the short run. We will never know what happens in the future. However, you do actually own a share of the economic engine of the economy, and fund its growth path and plans.

Stock Market

I am unlike the typical stock investor. I look at what do I expect in the future. What will I keep using and enjoy using now and in the long run, I think it is perfectly reasonable for me to pump my funds in these companies. For instance, I do expect to use a lot of Internet and telecommunications services, I expect to use online banking, I may drive around in fuel-efficient and perhaps self-driving cars. I will probably live in downtown in a city where the weather is good and the job opportunities aplenty (and so do both elderly folks and younger working professionals), I do grocery shopping in both places where I need to touch and see things and online.

Also, I try to match what I expect to spend in the near future to the portfolio I am having, so telecommunications never go above 20% of my portfolio, cars never above 20%, housing never above 30% and so on.

I wish you good luck in your investing journey!