DBS, OCBC and UOB. Past, present and future. Charting!

This is the transcript of a YouTube video I produced recently.
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I was looking at my short history with Singapore's banks this morning.

DBS was the first Singapore bank I was invested in, and this was back in early 2016.

The lowest price I paid was around $13 a share and I am still holding to those shares today.

Why did I decide to invest in DBS back then?

Regular long-time readers of my blog might remember that 2016 was the year I decided to increase exposure to non-REITs.

The rationale was that low interest rates could not last forever.

At the time, I recognized that it would be an ongoing exercise to transform my REITs heavy investment portfolio.

Of course, that exercise has become a multi-year experience.

Since 2016, I have added to my investment in DBS at various times.

I also became a shareholder of OCBC and UOB later on.



I increased my investment in DBS in April of 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was at under $19 a share.

I also increased my investment in OCBC during the pandemic at under $9 a share.

The pandemic saw me becoming a shareholder of UOB as I bought aggressively in late 2020 at around $19 a share.

Since those purchases, my last buy price for DBS was at around $24 a share as I did not add to my investment in the bank recently.

In recent months, I favored OCBC and UOB over DBS based on valuation considerations.

The last time I added to OCBC was in March this year at under $12 a share, and the last time I added to UOB was at around $26 a share in October last year.



So, it should be obvious to anyone that over the years, I have gradually increased my investments in DBS, OCBC and UOB.

Today, their combined market value in my portfolio exceeds $1 million.

Together, they are my largest investment.

This transformation of my investment portfolio surely did not occur by chance.

However, luck played a part in allowing me to buy when I did at more reasonable prices.

In one of my recent blogs, I said that I would like to see my combined exposure to DBS, OCBC and UOB at around 40% of my portfolio.

This is still work in progress.

How long is it going to take?

Well, lacking an earned income, with only my passive income doing all the heavy lifting, it could take a few more years.

It might even take another 10 years or more, depending on what life throws at me.

Do you think it sounds like it is taking way too long to happen?

Well, consider this.

I am not going anywhere in a hurry, and neither is the stock market.



So, when am I adding to my investments?

To be honest, the common stocks of OCBC and UOB are trading at pretty fair valuations now.

If I am not invested yet, I would buy some.

However, as I am looking to add, I decided to look at the charts for some guidance.

DBS has the weakest looking chart right now.

Down trending with negative momentum, we could see it going under $30 a share.

It would have to break immediate resistance at around $32 to go higher.

UOB has a chart that suggests a bottoming process is underway.

If this is indeed the case, we might not see the bottom of October 2022 at around $26 a share retested.

Now, it seems that its common stock could trade sideways for a bit.

I would buy some in the event it closes a gap which formed in late October last year.

This is close to $27 a share.



Amongst the three banks, OCBC seems to have the nicest chart now.

If we connect the lowest points in the chart in July and October last year, we get a trendline.

We can see that this trendline was retested in March this year.

It was also retested multiple times in May last month.

The trendline has always provided support.

So, it is likely to hold the next time it is retested.

If the market should offer me another chance to buy at closer to $12 a share, I would buy some.

Just me talking to myself, as usual.

Remember that what works for me might not work for others.

If AK can talk to himself, so can you!

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