Courage Marine: Bought more at 10c per share.

For a while, it looked as if a double top was forming in the Baltic Dry Index (BDI). Well, the potential double top formation has been negated as the BDI broke resistance and looks set to form a higher high.

As most of Courage Marine's business is on a per trip basis and at spot rate, a higher BDI is good news for the company. If the BDI continues to rise into winter, it could turn out to be quite a good quarter for Courage Marine and it looks like it could happen.

Bloomberg reported earlier in the year that freight rates are poised to rise after hitting a two year low as owners of ships carrying coal and iron ore scrapped the most vessels in 28 years. Indeed, Courage Marine recently sold one of its vessels to be scrapped as well. Also, Malaysian Bulker Carrier predicted that the dry bulk market could do well in the medium term due to Japan increasing imports of coal.

Technically, the MACD has been rising since plunging to a low in negative territory in mid August 2011. Although momentum is still negative, the rising MACD suggests that momentum is improving.

If we believe that Courage Marine's share price is currently range bound without any trend, looking at the Stochastics reveals that momentum is closer to the lower end of the range, although not oversold. Any further upward movement in price could find initial resistance at 11c while support is at 9.5c.

Related posts:
1. Courage Marine: Added at 10.5c per share.
2. Double dip recession or just very slow growth?

Tea with AK71: Alkaline water.

In recent months, I kept being bombarded by news about alkaline water. I hear about it on the radio. I read about it in the magazines and newspapers. I read about it in flyers given out at shopping malls. Is alkaline water really so amazing?

A few days ago, when I was shopping at NTUC Fairprice. I saw alkaline water on sale! These bottles were placed together with bottles of mineral water and distilled water. Price: $2.90 for a 2 litre bottle. Made in Singapore.

Anyway, the idea is that our body is very acidic and the food we eat is mostly acidifying too. So, to maintain a healthier balance, we need to eat alkalising food. For some time now, when I want a snack, I eat an orange, an apple, a handful of raisins, figs or almonds. These are alkalising. So, I guess drinking alkaline water is a natural next step.

I know there are companies which sell machines which would make normal tap water at home into alkaline water either through distillation or ionising processes. I don't think I can convince my mom to have one installed. She is skeptical about the health benefits of alkaline water. Frankly, I don't know for sure if the benefits are proven beyond a doubt as well. At $2.90 a day, I guess, it is worth a try.

Does anyone have any personal experience, good or bad, with alkaline water? Would you like to leave a comment to share your experience?

Er, in case you are wondering, this is not an advertorial. I don't make any money from blogging about this.  ;)

ARA: Partial divestment at $1.155.

When I was looking at ARA's chart last night, I decided that I should do a partial divestment. I would sell those shares I bought on 4 Oct, Tuesday.

Why? Volume was relatively thin. Up days accompanied by such thin volume are suspicious.

I decided that there would be resistance at $1.16 because that was the price at the start of two long black candle days and with high volume to boot.

Shareholders who had wanted to divest then but did not do so at $1.16 would remember that price. They would also remember how a low of $1.015 was hit by the close of the next day. That was a whopping 14.5c loss in just two days!

Mr. Market remembers extremes well and would try to divest if $1.16 should be tested. Today, the counter hit a high of $1.165 before closing at $1.15. The resistance at $1.16 was overcome only briefly. Closing at $1.15 means $1.16 is still the resistance to watch for now.

Using Fibo lines, we see that 61.8% approximates $1.18 and this is also where gap close could take place if the resistance at $1.16 could be taken out convincingly. The next higher resistance is at $1.23 as provided by the 50% Fibo line and the declining 20dMA.

Naturally, my next sell order is at $1.18. I could also place another sell order where the declining 20dMA is approximating. However, unless volume should increase meaningfully, it is hard to envisage ARA's share price moving much higher. Volume is, after all, the fuel that drives rallies.

As the MACD is still in negative territory and with no sign of a positive divergence, the shares bought on Tuesday were really for a quick trade on expectations that a rebound would materialise. So, I put in an overnight sell order at $1.155, just one bid below $1.16 where I expected some resistance. This was filled.

Locking in gains with a partial divestment is, I believe, the right thing to do. The counter is in a downtrend and we want to sell at resistance in a downtrend. I think that is what short sellers are waiting to do as well.

Related post:
ARA: A trading buy?