Financial Review - June 2013

June was an awful month for my investments. Net worth decreased sharply. High income producing excellent savings and the principal component of my mortgage repayments combined were not even close to offsetting the losses on my equities and commodities and the impact of a further decline in the AUD and NZD.

Here are the details:

1. my Hong Kong equity portfolio fell sharply. During the month, I purchased shares in BCIA, GDI and Fairwood. I sold my shares in Tontine Wines and reduced my exposure to China Gas. I hold shares in CMR which is currently suspended following an attack by a short seller alleging fraud. I am currently assuming a 100% loss on this position;

2. my AU/NZ equities fell slightly;

3.my ETFs fell sharply in line with the local markets. I purchased more A50 ETF;

4. my commodities fell sharply. Silver is my only position;

5. all of my properties were occupied with all tenants paying on time. Unfortunately, I have a number of minor repair bills which need to be paid, as well as the cost of repainting etc on a change of tenants and the associated agency fee. One property is now debt free;

6. currency movements were negative, with both the NZD and the AUD falling against the HKD/USD;

7. my position in bonds remains small. I picked up a mere HK$20,000 in the recent iBond offering;

8. there were no open derivative contracts at month end;

9. savings were high with high income and low expenses;

10. there were no transfers to Mrs Traineeinvestor this month.

My cash position rose slightly with money coming in than going out due to new investments. I currently hold 54.51 months of expenses in HKD cash or equivalents. This is above my target floor of 24 months.

For the two month period, my net worth fell by 3.11%. The year to date increase is 2.72%. This means that my investments have lost money this year. My retirement date has been fixed for 30 September.

More A50 ETF purchased

Today I added a few more iShares A50 ETF (HK:2823) to the portfolio. I paid HK$8.99 for the additional units.

Only after I placed the order did I notice J-D's comment on my previous purchase. He is quite correct that the CSOP A50 (HK:2822) would have been better - lower premium to NAV and lower total expense ratio. 

Going forward, any additional China ETF purchases will be for HK:2822 rather than HK:2823 (assuming the premium/discount does not reverse). When the time comes to sell, it will be the reverse (subject to the same assumption).

As an aside, I am slightly time poor at the moment - still working full time while my university course has started which gives me less time to do the research. It was slightly disappointing that, of the two new stocks that I did look at closely, on quickly overran my limit order (CR Power) and the other was on our restricted list.

Some more purchases

I have added a few more units in the A50 ETF (HK:2823) at HK$8.80 and GDI (HK:27) at HK$6.30 to the portfolio.

I also tried to open a position in CR Power (HK:836) as well but the shares jumped 90 cents this morning, well an truly overrunning my limit.