The best time to buy is probably the worst time to sell and vice versa. Lesson was learned the hard way as both MNACT and Ascott Trust cost the fund $4k in profits when both was sold to beef up cash for the Chinese equity ETF.
While I believe the cash will be well deployed, timing could really have been better as I will avoid doing both buying and selling at the same time in the future.
The focus for the month would be to prepare the SRS fund to weather a higher interest rate environment. While banks will likely expand their net interest margin to around 2% I simply do not see this margin expanding beyond 3% as bank will eventually have to pay depositors their dues by increasing fixed deposit rates.
With the impending launch of digital banks in Singapore, competition is expected to heat up in the banking sector which will likely cap their profitability even with higher interest rates.
REITs will likely face increasing interest cost over time as they begin refinancing at a higher rates. Those with lower debt will likely out perform as the Singapore economy open up further with reduced restrictions as well as tourist contributions.
My view on REITs will be for DPU to trend upwards over the year while price maintain stable thus compensating for the higher interest environment.
SRS Fund Portfolio
There are quite a few activities during the month of March as the HS Tech ETF was a new position in the portfolio together with addition to Ascendas iTrust. Both MNACT & Ascott Trust position were liquidated. The SRS Fund value reach an all time all of $350,500.26 and a dividend of $2,197.39 was collected during the Q1 2022. Cash level remain elevated at 18% as I wait for more opportunities to deploy these funds.
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