Bought 20 lots of Etika, sold off Asiatic

I bought 20 lots of Etika after selling my stake in Asiatic. I had thought of selling all losing positions but I felt that that would be too drastic. That would also require me to sell off my stake in China Animal Healthcare. Nonetheless, I am monitoring the market to sell into strength. I has been quite some time and some of these stocks do not seem to recover.

What did he really mean by volatile and choppy?

I was reading Today yesterday evening and I saw one of those seminar advertisement.  In the small colored space was a claim that the speaker had correctly predicted the nature of 2010's stock market - volatile and choppy. I pity the fool who believes everything he reads in the newspaper, what more marketing paraphernalia.

Looking For Investing Ideas Between S$2,000 - S$3,000

About $500 worth of dividends over the past and coming few days. While I am about $1,500 short before reaching the $20,000 mark of capital invested (money from my salary, not from gains and dividends). If I were to divest some of my smaller loss-making positions, namely Asiatic Group (break even) and Stratech, (down 2 cents from purchase price) it will top the amount to $3,000.

A slight deviation. I have been holding on to Asiatic and Stratech since the middle of last year. Although the power making Asiatic has seen a run up in share price, it was all down hill for motion sensor company Stratech. After a brief turnaround, which saw it being taken out of the SGX Watchlist, Stratech slumped back into the red with a loss-making 6 months.

What will I do with the $2,000 - $3,000? Since the end of the month is coming, I am feeling trigger happy but there a lack of good investing ideas. I flipped through my dad's past edition of Shares Investment and struggled to find any leads. I would like to average up on my existing holdings, namely Etika International or C&O Pharmaceutical but it would dilute any sense of "multi-bagger-ness". I did also consider China Animal Healthcare, but the stock has had its dual-listing almost priced in. I can of course keep the money as a cash buffer in my portfolio.

Here is a list of companies other than I am holding that I may research and take action on, if you have other good SGX-listed investing ideas, do post your comments!

1. Del Monte Holdings. Very illiquid stock doing FMCG which is an industry I love most.

2. Ezra Holdings. Very geared company but it is making its move to cement its market share through latest acquisition of Akers. But I can only buy one lot.

3. AusGroup. Exposure to the Australian mining sector but as a contractor, it is prone to margin pressures as well as competition from outside Australia.

Buying Something

I should be buying 6 lots of FJ Benjamin later in the day.
The money should come from 2011 budget. If we are in a early bull market, then I better buy early.

As can be seen from the graph, the STI has been mostly down for the month of August. I really think the index will continue heading down for the rest of the month but I doubt there will be any crashes come September and October.

For sometime, I agonized whether to buy Asiatic Group (Holdings). I like the utilities story in an emerging economy. However, when I saw yesterday that FJ Benjamin was proposing a 2 cents final dividend, my mind was set on the retail stock. Let's see how it goes.