REITs are typically stable investments that grow in value over the long run. That being said, there are special circumstances where REITs can see a spike in its share price. This requires the right catalysts to be triggered to drive interest from investors. According to DBS and UOBKH, Keppel KBS REIT, Fraser Hospitality Trust and Netlink NBN Trust are three REITs that have the potential to trigger a spike in investor interest. Investors Takeaway: 3 REITs Awaiting Catalysts To Catalyse Its Share Price Keppel KBS US REIT Despite the early lease termination at Westmoor Center in Denver in 1Q18, Keppel KBS US REIT managed to deliver DPU of US$0.015. This was marginally ahead of the IPO forecasts. However, there were other positives that lit up Keppel KBS REIT’s quarter. Majority of Keppe

Market sentiment has been affected in recent weeks by increased global market volatility, contributed in no small part by simmering trade tensions between the United States and China. Other concerns include the anticipated increase in US interest rates. Despite this, the five best-performing STI constituents managed to average a year-to-date return of 13%, which we’ve outlined last week. Read Also: SPDR STI ETF VS Nikko AM Singapore STI ETF: What’s The Difference Between These ETFs Listed On The SGX? Another well-referenced index is the FTSE ST All-Share Index, which currently comprises of 127 Large, Mid and Small Cap companies listed on the SGX Mainboard. Despite overall market volatility, the five least volatile stocks of the FTSE ST All-Share Index averaged declines of just 0.3% in

Digital is here to stay. According to a new report released by Google and Temasek, Southeast Asia’s internet economy is projected to exceed US$240 billion by 2025. The figure is US$40 billion higher than previously estimated. The higher estimated market value is thanks to a large, growing, and engaged internet user base. Google and Temasek’s latest report covers four main areas of the internet economy – ride-hailing, e-commerce, online media, and online travel – with a focus on six Southeast Asian countries, namely, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines. Within the four areas, the report also added new sectors such as online vacation rentals, online food delivery, music subscriptions, and video-on-demand. The region’s internet economy is now es

I am writing this dividend update quarterly in an attempt to compile my quarterly dividend performance for the year. With a rising cost of living under the belt, in particular with the two kids in tow and hence require some bits of maintenance spend to keep hold, it can be particularly stressful to keep up with the expenses or cash outflow. Many times, we are dependent on our sole income which comes from our source of salary which we received monthly. While these may be the norms in the beginning, it is not healthy to be overly dependent on it over long periods of time as it may anytime snap behind your back. This is the reason why all of us need to think ways to grow our side income while we can so that we may unravel opportunities that can supplement our monthly income fro

Following my experiment using CFD account to purchase shares which I blogged here a few months ago, I have finally received my first dividend payout credited to my account.Although rather straightforward, but they operate somewhat a little differently from holding a normal ordinary shares account hence I wanted to document this for future users.For those who've read my past articles, you would have known that I have opened up an account with Cityindex and have tried to experiment leveraging through a series of different level financing.Being conservative since this is my first few encounters with leveraging instrument, I have only leveraged up to 1x which means for whatever position I have opened, I have half purchased it using cash and the other half using borrowing.The cost of

The STI fell 7.3 percent in the month of October as trade war worries, rising interest rates and correction in the US stock market weighed on the local market. The underperformance was underlined by weaker performance from property and O&G stocks after new property measures were announced and amidst the oil price correction. DBS: STI To End Year On A Weaker Note Given the uncertainty over impact of the US-China trade war and rising interest rates environment, DBS foresees STI to end on a weaker note at the end of the year. DBS lowered its target for STI from 3,550 to 3,200. In particular, DBS is concerned that bank stocks could be a potential drag for the STI. However, the recent fall in market has created more attractive valuation levels. Going forward, DBS recommends investors to ado

US stocks surged on Wednesday, 7 November, a day after the midterm election results. All three major US benchmark indices – the S&P 500 Index, NASDAQ Composite Index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average – rose more than 2%. The Democratic party regained control of the house, taking 223 seats or 51.3% of total seats, with the Republicans taking 197 seats. Republicans, however, strengthened their grip on the Senate, taking 51 seats of the 100, with Democrats taking 44 seats and other parties taking two seats. The US trade deficit widened in September, amid an escalating trade war. The trade gap for good and services increased by 1.3% to US$54 billion. Overall exports rose to US$212.6 billion, while imports increased to US$266.6 billion. The overall trade gap for goods increased to

Last Friday (2 November 2018), NetLink NBN Trust (SGX: CJLU) released its earnings update for the second quarter and first half of its fiscal year ending 31 March 2019 (FY 2019). The reporting period is for the three months as well as six months ended 30 June 2018. Netlink NBN Trust designs, builds, owns and operates the passive fibre network infrastructure of Singapore’s Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network. The trust’s extensive network provides nationwide coverage to residential homes and non-residential premises in mainland Singapore and its connected islands. Here are 12 takeaways from Netlink NBN Trust’s latest results (numbers below refer to the second quarter of FY 2019 unless otherwise stated): 1. Revenue for Netlink NBN Trust stood at S$90.6 million, which was 6

There are many ways to find investment ideas. Some useful methods are to screen for stocks or to look at a list of stocks near their 52-week lows to sieve out potential bargains. Studying what institutional investors have been buying or selling is another avenue. Institutional investors are typically large investment organisations, such as hedge funds, mutual funds, unit trust companies, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies and so on. These investors tend to possess vastly greater resources than individual investors like you and me when researching stocks. Hence, it may be useful to keep a close eye on what they are doing, as a way to generate ideas. In this article, I will look at three Singapore stocks that were among the top 10 shares that saw the highest net purchases in dollar

Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SGX: Z74) or Singtel, is one of the three main telco in Singapore. The other two are M1 Ltd (SGX: B2F) and StarHub Ltd (SGX: CC3). The group has three main business segments, namely Consumer, Enterprise and Digital Life. At the current price of S$3.17 (at time of writing), the company’s stock is trading at 17% lower compared to its 52-week high of S$3.80. This decline captured my attention and got me interested in finding out more about the company. In particular, I want to understand: Does Singtel have a high-quality business? For me, this question is important. If Singtel has a high-quality business, the lower stock price could be an investment opportunity. Unfortunately, there’s no easy answer to the question. But a simple metric, the return on

A year ago, Phillip Capital Management, along with Lion Global Investors, launched the Lion-Phillip S-REIT ETF. The ETF aimed to give investors a way to invest in a diversified basket of Singapore REITs (S-REITs) which paid a steady stream of distributions. (At the moment, the average distribution yield for S-REITs is 6.8%.) The ETF was met with a largely positive response from the market – Lion Global Investors and Phillip Capital Management initially aimed to raise S$40-50 million but exceeded their target when the fund raised over S$100 million last October. Capitalizing on the Singapore market’s appetite for yield, Phillip Capital Management has now launched the Phillip SING Income ETF. The initial offer period for the ETF will close at 11:00 a.m. on 19 October 2018 before its list

NetLink NBN Trust (SGX: CJLU) designs, builds, owns, and operates the passive fibre network infrastructure (comprising of ducts, manholes, fibre cables, and central offices) of Singapore’s Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network (Next Gen NBN). The trust was listed on the Singapore stock market in July 2017. Recently, the Singapore Exchange posted an interview with the chief executive of NetLink NBN Trust, Tong Yew Heng. From the interview, I picked out the trust’s view of its competitors and its growth in the years ahead. Competition in the industry During the interview, Tong said that he is aware of industry competition. The trust does not have a monopoly position in providing fibre networks, and any telco with the required licence can develop its own network. However, the telc

Warren Buffett once said that as an investor, it is important to be “fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.” The idea is simple. When everyone is buying shares in a company, it’s unlikely that the company’s shares will be a good bargain. On the other hand, when others are shying away from the shares of a company, we might be able to pick some up at a good price. How can we tell if investors are staying away from a company’s shares? By seeing if it has fallen hard in recent times. In this spirit, here are three blue-chip shares with prices that have declined significantly from their respective highs over the past year: Singapore Telecommunications Limited  (SGX: Z74), DBS Group Holdings Ltd  (SGX: D05), and Thai Beverage Company Limited  (

NetLink NBN Trust Price – $0.78 Target – $0.95 NetLink NBN Trust (NetLink) has dominant market share of 90% for residential and 35% for non-residential fibre connections. The group added 24,600 residential connections in 1Q19 representing a 2.1% q-o-q increase, and there is still an untapped market of 300,000 residential homes not on fibre broadband. Meanwhile, NetLink also added 900 non-residential connections over the same period rising 2.1% having a competitive advantage in areas outside of CBD and business parks due to its extensive nationwide coverage. Entry of the fourth mobile operator causes no concern as TPG Telecom would be a customer of NetLink relying on its NBAP connections for backhaul transmission. We see NetLink as the most defensive stock listed on the SGX because of i

Within the REIT sector, there are four resilient REITs that KGI recommends for investors looking to build a defensive portfolio when the current market sentiment is in the doldrums. Investors Takeaway: Go Defensive With These 4 Resilient REITs Frasers Centrepoint Trust Amongst retail REITs, KGI views Frasers Centrepoint Trust as one of the most defensive retail REITs with a high exposure to suburban malls. Frasers Centrepoint Trust comprises of 6 retail properties with an overall occupancy of 94 percent. It currently has one of the lowest gearing levels of 29 percent, which gives the REIT manager ample debt headroom for new acquisitions. Frasers Centrepoint Trust is currently trading at its long-term average price-to-book value of 1.1 times. From KGI’s perspective, this is an undemandi

From an all-time high of around S$4 in March 2015, M1 Ltd’s (SGX: B2F) share price has fallen by over 60% to S$1.55 right now. Looking at this, some investors may be wondering if Singapore’s smallest operational telco is a bargain at the moment. There is no easy way to find out, but there may be clues in One Up On Wall Street, a classic investment book from legendary fund manager Peter Lynch. From 1977 to 1990, Lynch ran the US-based Fidelity Magellan fund and racked up an incredible annualised return of 29%. In One Up On Wall Street, Lynch shared a general investing checklist he had used when he was searching for bargains. Let’s run M1 through Lynch’s checklist and see what turns up. 1. The Price-Earnings ratio: Is it low or high for this particular company and for similar compani

In the current risk-off environment, we continue to highlight four defensive yield plays that safe haven seekers should invest in. Investors Takeaway: Seek Safe Haven With These 4 Defensive Dividend Plays Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust With the addition of the Japanese assets to its portfolio in 1Q19, OCBC believes that Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust has built a better portfolio mix. OCBC thinks that Japanese properties complement its other assets, given its longer weighted average lease expiry and lower borrowing costs in Japan on moderate growth prospects. This provides increased stability to Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust’s unitholders. Post-acquisition, distribution per unit for Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust grew at a smaller magnitude of 1.6 percent

Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SGX: Z74), or Singtel for short, is one of the largest listed companies in Singapore in terms of market capitalisation. It also possesses a market-beating dividend yield of more than 4%. In this article, let’s learn more about Singtel’s dividend such as its dividend yield, dividend history and most importantly, its dividend sustainability. Dividend yield At the closing price of S$3.19 yesterday, Singtel had a dividend yield of 5.5%. For perspective, the SPDR STI ETF (SGX: ES3) had a distribution yield of 3.5% on the same day. The SPDR STI ETF is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks the fundamentals of Singapore’s stock market barometer, the Straits Times Index (SGX: ^STI). Singtel is one of the 30 constituents of the index. Dividend amount a

1. SPH Reit  --  10th Jul 20182. SPH  --  11th Jul 20183. Kep Reit  --  16th Jul 20184. Soilbuild REIT  --  16th Jul 20185. Kep DC Reit  --  17th Jul 20186. Kep Infra Trust  --  17th Jul 20187. Kep-KBS US Reit  --  17th Jul 20188. First Reit  --  17th Jul 20189. Kep T&T  --  18th Jul 201810. Capitaland Comm Trust  --  19th Jul 201811. Kep Corp  --  19th Jul 201812. SATS  --  19th Jul 201813. SIA Engg  --  19th Jul 201814. CapitaMall Trust  --  20th Jul 201815. Semb Mar  --  20th Jul 201816. Mapletreelog Trust  --  23rd Jul 201817. MapletreeInd Trust  --  24th Jul 201818. Ascott REIT  --  24th Jul 201819. Fras