Do not fear the selldown.

It is safe to say that there is a lot of fear in the air. Palpable? Almost. What are we to do? Well, I am sure everyone has his or her own opinion as to the best strategy in such a situation.  Maybe, I shouldn't be so sure. So, what do I think? Well, I have been sharing my thoughts in this blog and what I now think is largely the same as before.

For a stock which is clearly in a downtrend, sell into strength at resistance.  It might be a lower high but it is still a high.  We don't want to sell at a low.  Then, wait patiently for it to form a base or to rebound and form a higher low.  It would be safer to take up a long position then.

Not all stocks are in a downtrend.  For stocks of businesses with strong fundamentals with their uptrends still intact, buying at supports is still the way to go. Look to the technicals for possible negative divergence as a warning sign.  Certain stocks might be rangebound and if the businesses have strong fundamentals, buying at the support of the trading range is what I would do.

Generally, our motivations for being in the stock market would determine the strategy that we adopt.  For me, I am primarily in the stock market to secure a passive income stream.  So, I would accumulate stocks with strong fundamentals which provide high yields. Examples are AIMS AMP Capital Industrial REIT, LMIR, Saizen REIT and SPH.

I also invest in growth stocks but these are generally not known for big dividend payouts and I invest in these with a view to trade.  Examples are Golden Agriculure and Healthway Medical.  Recently, I tried my hands at CapitaMalls Asia and lost some money, if you remember.

Do I think we are having a meltdown? Are we going into another recession or even a depression? I don't think so. Informed by Jim Rogers and Marc Faber, I have talked about the next crisis being a currency crisis and we are seeing the precursors of that crisis.  For now, I believe that the stock market will be going higher in time. Fiat currencies are not going to do a disappearing act.  Governments around the world will not allow a collapse.  So, in crises, we find opportunities.

There would be some people who want to sell away all their shares now, fearing a meltdown, keep their cash and wait.  There would also be those who are keeping all their shares, believing them to be good investments, and would be buying more shares at lower prices to average down.  In both instances, I would say, look to the technicals as we want to avoid selling at the lows or buying at resistance. We should not be afraid but we should stay cautious. Good luck to us all.

Related posts:
What are investors to do in downtrend?
A correction? An opportunity.

STI: Falling through the 200dMA.

My last post on the STI scared quite a few people, I imagine. Well, the STI has closed below the 200dMA on relatively high volume.  Failing to recapture the 200dMA support is bearish, of course.

STI decreases 0.8% to 2,753.51 at closing
Thursday, 20 May 2010

© 2010 - The Edge Singapore

The MACD continues to pull away downwards from the signal line, increasing the distance with the signal line when it looked as if it was just closing the distance in the last few sessions. The sell signal in the last session was confirmed.

The MFI continues forming lower highs and being some distance from oversold, it could continue moving downwards with little trouble.  The OBV is steadily declining. The 20dMA seems set to form a dead cross with the 100dMA in due course.

The low achieved today at 2,735 just touched the uptrend line before bouncing to close somewhat higher at 2,753.  Will the trendline support hold up tomorrow?

Looking at the weekly chart, we find the next support provided by the 50wMA at 2,720 points. The previous low was at 2,660 points. To keep a semblance of an uptrend, the next low formed by the STI should be higher than 2,660 points. Well, there is one day left to the week.  How the STI behaves tomorrow could very well determine the tone of the market next week.

Incidentally, the declining 100wMA is no longer at 2,425 points.  It is now at 2,400 points. A declining MA is not a very strong support.  That's for sure.

Related post:
STI at 2425 points?

Golden Agriculture: Testing 200dMA support.

I sold half of my remaining position at 55.5c resistance on 10 May and hoped that the upward momentum could be sustained to hit 58c where I would sell my remaining shares but that did not happen.

Today, its price broke the 200dMA briefly to touch a low of 50.5c but closed at 52c.  This might be due to a little bounce in CPO's price today to close at RM2,470, up RM35 or 1.44%.  Clearly, the downtrends for both Golden Agriculture and CPO are intact.

If the price closes below the 200dMA, the near term supports are at 48c and 46c as suggested by the candlesticks.

Related post:
Golden Agriculture: An inverted cross.

FSL Trust: That sinking feeling.

FSL Trust's price is being battered for losing a big part of a 15% income from a long term charter.  If we think about it, proportionally, its unit price should not lose more than 15% as well. However, from a price of about 60c just before the news was made known, it has plunged to close at 44.5c today. At one point, it reached a low of 42.5c today.

MFI is in oversold territory.  OBV is still declining. However, the price decline in the last 13 sessions show clearly a pattern of low volume pullback.  The fundamentals notwithstanding, I sense an opportunity.  I would be very tempted to buy some at the 138.2% Fibo line which approximates 41.5c.  If the price should go as low as the 150% Fibo line which approximates 39c, I would probably get some.

Related post:
FSL Trust: A sinking ship?