It was a tough weekend. There were 3 bad news that affected the market.
First, the Icelandic volcano was sprouting ashes like nobody’s business, grounded almost all flights to and fro Europe. This is bad, bad news as I was holding Singapore Airport Terminal Services (SATSvcs).
Second, China has introduced measures to suppress the red hot property market and I thought, “there goes the property stocks.”
Third, Goldman Sachs was charged for fraud by not disclosing risks for the CDOs that they sold. “There goes the bank stocks.”
With these news, how can the market not come down on Monday?
Noble Group:
The price pullback became attractive opportunity for me to enter. Moreover, I learned that one of the directors was retiring and sold off a substantial amount of Noble stocks. And the price was very near a good support at $3.10 and hence the risk is small. All these reasons convinced me to place the trade. But subsequent days showed that commodity industry was slowing down, and Noble was not spared. In addition, Noble pulled out their bid to merge Gloucester Coal with MacArthur Coal, after Peabody went in with a takeover bid on MacArthur. Bad news were really piling up. No complains that my stop loss was triggered.
Bought 3,000 shares at $3.22 on 6 Apr 10.
Sold 3,000 shares at $3.08 on 19 Apr 10.
Commission = $50
Loss = -S$470
SATsvcs:
[Click to enlarge]. As mentioned, the grounded flights had adverse effects on my airport stocks. I was struggling on Sunday to decide whether to place my stop loss higher so that I can protect my profits. I don’t know why I did not shift the stop eventually, and decided to take the pullback, hoping it will not trigger my stop loss at the recent high. But too bad, the volcano ash was too powerful. I must learn to adjust to market changes and to protect my profits.
Bought 4,000 shares at $2.74 on 5 Apr 10.
Sold 3,000 shares at $2.76 and 1,000 shares at $2.75 on 19 Apr 10.
Commission = $50
Profit = S$20
I have no more stocks following the exits of these 2.
You may also like:
- HL Asia and Ho Bee – closed on 31 Mar 10
- Sound Global (previously Epure) – closed on 27 Mar 10
- Sichuan Expressway – closed on 12 Apr 10
- Zhuguang Holdings (long) – closed on 27 Jan 10
- Venture (long) – closed on 22 Jan 10
- USDJPY – closed on 14 Apr 10
- Neo-Neon – closed on 15 Apr 10
- China Oil and Gas and IndoAgri – closed on 22 Mar 10
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