THE local bourse suffered five days of straight losses last week. The plunge in crude oil prices and concerns over large borrowings at 1MDB led investors to worry about declining government’s revenues, and the ability to narrow its budget deficit.

On Friday, Malaysia reported lower GDP growth in the third quarter of 5.6%, down from 6.4% in 2Q2014.

The losses on the local bourse contrasted with Wall Street, which closed at record highs amid signs of gaining economic momentum. The greenback also strengthened to a five-year high.

Most European stocks also climbed on news that France and Germany returned to growth. Meanwhile, Chinese stocks fell on Friday, the last trading day before the start of the trading link between Hong Kong and Shanghai, as profit-taking set in after recent gains.

On Friday, the FBM KLCI index declined by 0.11% to close at 1,813.80.

My portfolio value declined in line with the FBM KLCI’s downtrend, with total returns decreasing by 1.08% to RM 103,495.

The portfolio started on 8 July 2014 with a capital of RM100,000. Since then, it has outperformed the FBM KLCI by 7.7%, and has registered an annualised return of 9.8%.

Total profits currently stand at RM 3,495.

In my portfolio, only Teo Seng and Sunway rose by 0.9% and 1.2% respectively. The stocks that led the losers were Willowglen MSC (-3.5%) and IQ Group (-1.8%).

I kept the portfolio unchanged on Friday.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on November 17, 2014