Phllip Captital Market Watch

Here's a summary of the video:

• Sep/Oct Typically bad months for stock market
• Stock market now is bullish, though the economy is bearish
• Economic indicators are bad
• In fact, investors are 'brainwashed' to think that the economy is better
• This is shown by the lower percentage of cashing holding among people => people are investing more now
• Oct typical has the largest one day drop in history. Eg. Black Monday in 1929 and 1987. Also, in 2008, Dow Jones and S&P drop 7% in day!
• Invest in gold for now, if you are conservative

My view:
Personally I have invested in the STI ETF, and judging from the charts, the STI is facing a resistance now( from the Fibonacci retracement). I have initially decided to do dollar cost averaging on this stock, however if this resistance proves to bee too tough to break, I intend sell the stock, and buy back when the market corrects.

First Trade, STI ETF

Finally made my first trade, bought 3 lots of STI ETF @ $2.64

Bought based on momentum crossover, though the Fibonacci retracement condition is not satisfied yet.

Citibank and Barclays

I had two recruitment talks in NTU in the last week from Citibank and Barclays. Nothing personal about the reviews that I will be doing here, but just an opinion of mine.

Citibank
It was well run, they have very good speakers who shared their working experiences with the audience. The impression I get is that Citibank have very committed and talented people who goes all out to get the job done. They have very good senior management who in turn help to develop very capable future management.

Even during the networking sessions, one of the managers even gave me and my friends his name card and told us to refer any one that we know who are looking for jobs. They are actively doing their jobs! Going the extra mile!

Barclays
Speakers weren't as good and the people do not really know much about what other people in company are doing. Moreover, I feel that they are not as professional when it comes to giving a recruitment talk. However this does not reflect the capability of the company.

I heard that people in this company work very hard, and although its a tough company to work in, if you like challenges, this is the place to be. Also, after talking to a trader from Barclays, it seems that the job is something I might want to do.

Updated FD rates

Rates are really low now. The best I feel is by CIMB bank.

For more details click here

HDB housing grants

Was just looking to the grants available if you are trying to buy a HDB house.

CPF Grants
There are currently 3 main types of grants. (these are meant only for resale flats and not new flats by HDB. This is because the price for the new flats are already subsidized). Also, the income ceiling for household does not include bonuses, income from rental, investment etc.

Type of Grant Available	Amount	Income Ceiling for the household
CPF housing grant for family	$30,000	$8,000 per mth
CPF housing grant for family (living near parents/married child) - Parents are residing in an HDB flat or owner-occupied private property within same town or within 2 km	$40,000	$8,000 per mth
Half Housing Grant - A first-timer citizen who marries a second-timer spouse, who has previously enjoyed a housing subsidy, can apply for half of the Family Grant amount to buy a resale flat, if the family meets the eligibility criteria of the Family Grant.	$15,000 / $20,000	$8,000 per mth

*Taken from this website


AHG
In addition, there is the Additional CPF housing grant (AHG) that is between $5000 to $40,000 on top of the grants that I posted on top. ( Can be used for new or resale HDBs) Below is a table for the amount of the grants)

Average Monthly Household Income *	Additional CPF Housing Grant (prior to 6 Feb 09)	Enhanced Additional CPF Housing Grant (wef 6 Feb 09) **
$1,500 or less	$30,000	$40,000
$1,501 - $2,000	$25,000	$35,000
$2,001 - $2,500	$20,000	$30,000
$2,501 - $3,000	$15,000	$25,000
$3,001 - $3,500	$10,000	$20,000
$3,501 - $4,000	$5,000	$15,000
$4,001 - $4,500	-	$10,000
$4,501 - $5,000	-	$ 5,000

Note:
* Previously, the average monthly household income was assessed over a period of 2 years. Under the Enhanced AHG, the average monthly household income is assessed over a period of 1 year.
*Taken from this website


Maximum Subsidy
So the maximum subsidy that you can receive is when
1. Buy resale flat near your parents ($40,000)
2. Both you and your spouse are not working ($40,000)

That is $80,000!


Compare HDB prices in Singapore
This link shows the median prices of different HDD house types in different regions of Singapore

My Stock Picks

Looks like the correction is here. And Singapore is leading the way!

However be prepared for the uptrend. These are the stocks that I'm looking at.

STI ETF

Will buy when nearing 2380. However if it choose to rebound next week, will only buy if it breaks 2666. In addition there should be a crossover of the momentum indicator before I buy


Suntec REIT

• With a reported NAV of $1.98 and a current market price of less than$1, the discount is one of the biggest of all the REITs with a market capitalization of over S$1 billion.
• The expected yields based on some reports is around 11%,9%,7% for the year 2009,2010,2011 respectively.
• Reported gearing of around 35%. Though a little high, I feel that its still managable. Since interest rates are low now, I think their newly funded debts should have low interests too,hence the potential for higher future earnings
• Though office rental prices are expected to go down, I feel that in the long term, land prices in Singapore in general will still go up
  
• Will buy it its nearing $0.874(support) . Or if it breaks out of $1.10(resistance), provided the STI breaks out too.
  

Brokerage Fees

I am finally going to start trading soon. Here is a list of brokerage firms that I have research and found to have one of the lowest commission charges around.

I have shortlisted these 3 firms. DBS Vickers, Citibank and POEMS.

DBS Vickers

Normal Account: Link here


If trade using cash upfront : Link here



Citibank Brokerage

For link to the Citibank website: Click here


POEMS

For link to the POEMS website : Click here



Thus looking at the commission charges, I will definitely use DBS Vickers with the cash upfront. It has the LOWEST brokerage / commission charges for the Singapore market at 0.18% or minimum $18. However cash upfront means that before you make the purchase of the shares, you have to transfer the money from your DBS/POSB account into your DBS Vickers account. ( This can be done real time) However, withdrawing of the money in this account back to your DBS/POSB account requires 1 working day. Personally I do not see a problem with this, unless you are doing contra trading.

If you are going to do contra trading, Citibank's internet commission is the lowest, at 0.28% and minimum charge of $22. Though DBS Vickers' normal net account has a 0.28% minimum too, it has a higher minimum charge of $25.

I placed POEMS in the comparison too, because I do use phone trading in the past, especially for emergencies. However, it has a rather high (though considered the market rate) for commissions.

Those are interested to trade together, just drop me an email at NTUChartist@hotmail.com