ASIAN stocks mostly closed higher yesterday, after China’s central bank cut interest rates by 25 basis points, which is expected to be supportive of growth. The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.78% to settle at 3,336.29.

On Wall Street, the Dow and S&P 500 declined 0.45% and 0.30%, respectively, last Friday, after GDP growth for 4Q2014 was revised lower from the preliminary estimate.

Oil price dropped about 1% on Monday as OPEC continued to produce more than its quota in February. Brent crude and WTI crude are hovering around $62 and US$49 per barrel, respectively - at the time of writing.

On the home front, the FBM KLCI Index closed 0.22% lower to 1,817.13. Market breadth was negative with decliners outpacing gainers by a ratio of almost two to 1.

Meanwhile, the ringgit fell 0.6% to RM3.63 against the USD on worries the rates cut by China will hurt Malaysia’s export competitiveness. Notably, China is our second largest export market.

I did not buy any stock on Monday. However, I disposed of my entire stake in:

•Homeritz at RM1.18, registering a gain of 2.6%

•Ecofirst at 36 sen, registering a gain of 5.9%

•Hovid at 43.5 sen, registering a loss of 3.3%

 My portfolio now has a total value of RM100,330.70 and is up 0.3% since inception. It has outperformed the benchmark FBM KLCI by 4.3%.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on March 3, 2015.