TOTAL value for my portfolio declined 0.09% last Friday to RM97,707.90, due mainly to a loss on the disposal of Can-One. By comparison, the FBM KLCI fell 0.28% to 1,813.37. Market breadth was negative with decliners outpacing gainers by a ratio of 1.1 to 1.

Regional markets mostly ended lower, following overnight losses on Wall Street. The Dow and the S&P 500 indices fell 0.23% and 0.24%, respectively, on Thursday. The Shanghai Composite Index bucked the trend, rising 0.24% to 3,691.10. Elsewhere, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index dropped 0.95% while the Hang Seng index fell 0.04%. 

Crude oil prices gave up some gains after rising as much as 5% on Thursday. Crude oil futures traded around US$50 per barrel at the time of writing. Prices retraced after Goldman Sachs said the impact on oil supplies from the air strikes in Yemen would be minimal. Also, US crude inventories surged to a new record high of 466.7 million barrels.

Meanwhile, the ringgit depreciated against the greenback to RM3.68. Nevertheless, the ringgit ended the week higher, up 1.8% against the US dollar, largely on speculation the Federal Reserve will raise rates at a slower pace.

My portfolio is down 2.3% since inception. Despite the loss, I am still outperforming the FBM KLCI, which is down by 4.2% over the same period.

• Portfolio will buy stocks with positive momentum on the day

• Stocks in portfolio will be divested when they exhibit negative momentum

• Otherwise, stocks will be divested within a max 4-day holding period

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on March 30, 2015.