SHARES on the local bourse were mostly in the red on Tuesday, but the key index closed slightly higher in a spurt of buying in the afternoon session.

One of the catalysts for the afternoon recovery was data from China showing industrial profits grew 0.4% in September, a reversal of the declines a month earlier. However, the broader market remained weak with losers overwhelming gainers by a 2-to-1 ratio.

Investors are still generally cautious, awaiting for fresh clues on the status of the tapering of the US quantitative easing programme and the US interest rate outlook, following the commencement of the two-day Federal Reserve meeting today.

My portfolio value declined by 0.64% to RM 106,827, as compared to FBM KLCI’s increase of 0.14%.

Total returns for the portfolio fell from 7.5% to 6.8%.

The portfolio started on 8 July 2014 with a capital of RM100,000. Since then, it has outperformed the FBM KLCI by 10.4%, and has registered an annualised return of 22.1%.

Total profits currently stand at RM 6,827.

There were no gainers for the portfolio yesterday.

Losers were led by KSL Holdings Bhd (-2.1%) and Willowglen MSC Bhd (-1.7%). Homeritz’s share price was unchanged.

The momentum algorithm picked up SLP Resources yesterday, a stock that I had previously purchased for the portfolio in September. I purchased 14,000 shares at RM 0.695. The stock closed at RM0.70.

SLP manufactures plastic packaging products, including polybags and polyfilms, primarily for export markets such as Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

I sold all of my stake in Apex Equity Holdings, comprising 5,100 shares at RM 1.51 per share.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on October 29, 2014.