Portfolio edges up 1.8 per cent (without dividends)

The portfolio grew 1.8% in value compared to the end of last year, excluding dividends.

Contra buy: 3 lots Petra Foods @ 3.60

I think the better term to use would be trading buy as I am trying to find ways to cough out the cash to settle for this position. Hoping it will do a "Super" and recover quickly to the SGD 4.00 level.

Made SGD 220 from first contra trade on Super Group

Bought 3 lots of Super Group at SGD 3.74 on Monday, and sold today for SGD 3.84. The cost factoring for commissions was SGD 11,259 while the proceeds was SGD 11,479, making it a gain of SGD 220. This is essentially picking coins in front of a steam roller. Whether I will do it again depends on how volatile the market remains over the next few weeks.

Super Group: My First Contra

Bought 3 lots of Super Group @ 3.75 with the no intention to settle, making it my first attempt at "contra". But I guess one problem is that I won't be in front of my computer on 26-27. This would make me slightly edgy! 

My Taiwan Trip (June 1-9)

Taipei 101

I went to Taiwan from June 1-9 with my girlfriend and visited Hualien and Taipei. I booked the Tiger Airways ticket way in advanced in February and for two persons and they cost me SGD 900 in total. This included hot meals and 20 kg baggage check-in to Taiwan, and 25 kg baggage check-in to Singapore. The Tiger Airways plane was a bit cramp for me. My friend who went Taiwan two weeks before recommended Scoot but said they charged quite a bit for booking.

The travel itinerary went like this:

Taipei Mainstation

June 1: Flew from Singapore's T2 to Taiwan's Tao Yuan International Airport 1. Took a bus to Taipei Main Station, from there a slow train (3 hours) to Hualien Station and a taxi to Jimei Home Stay (a min su), where I stayed there for 4 nights. The home stay was good (SGD 100 per night) and the only problem I had was that all the TV channels were local.