June 2015 Month-end Update

June 2015 Month-end Update

Period of evaluation:- 3/6/2015 to 2/7/2015

My Returns:-

Investment Capital	USD 411.25	MYR 1,468.16 (@MYR 3.57/USD)
Current Investment Value	USD406.77	MYR 1,537.59 (@MYR 3.78/USD)
% Rate of Return (ROR)  % Year-to-date (YTD)	-1.09% 1.06%	4.73% (FOREX-adjusted) 6.04% (FOREX-adjusted)

 

S&P 500:-

Index value (3 June 2015)	2,114.07
Index value (2 July 2015)	2,076.78
% Rate of Return (ROR)  % Year-to-date (YTD)	-1.76% -0.42%

Dow Jones Industrial Index:-

Index value (3 June 2015)	18,076.27
Index value (2 July 2015)	17,730.11
% Rate of Return (ROR)  % Year-to-date (YTD)	-1.91%  -0.62%

June continues to be a rough month for investors, including myself, with a number of unfavorable market conditions directly affecting the share prices of the counters I currently hold. I was fortunate enough to see prices of some of my previously held counters recover late June, and I managed to sell most of the profitable ones before the market slipped back into the red in early July. The current composition of shares I'm holding are mining and commodity companies, which may or may not work out in my favor. I did buy them cheap, but probably not cheaply enough. Still, with the current financial crisis going in the Greece, and a massive dark cloud still looming over China and the global economy, it is hard to foresee how things will turn out this year.

Overall, I am predicting this year to turn out quite bad with an economic slump throughout previously progressive economies, and an gradual loss in currency value of these regions against the US dollar. In particular, the Malaysian ringgit has depreciated aggressively compared to the greenback, which after FOREX adjustment, has boosted my investment value by nearly 5%. I believe that the Malaysian ringgit may resume its fall, especially with the continued exodus of cautious investors from the local bond markets.

But while the situation may seem bad in the near future, it is actually a blessing in disguise; the current economic turmoil is allowing investors to identify and separate those investments with a stronger resilience against the churn, and with prices being suppressed by the exit of jittery investors, those with nerves of steel and the necessary cashflow will be able to pick up many counters cheaply at this time. Certainly works for me!