ON Thursday, my portfolio fell into the red for the first time since its inception on 8 July 2014, although it is still outperforming the overall market which has fallen much more.

Asian bourses continue to trade lower on Thursday, battered by global economic worries and Wall Street’s relentless falls. On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrials Average had plunged as much as 460 points before recovering more than half these losses to end the day down 173 points.

Given these large gyrations and persistent triple digit daily declines on Wall Street, investors are understandably nervous. As more buyers stay on the sidelines, while sellers try to lock in gains or minimise losses, the downward selling pressure increases.

My portfolio value declined by 3.12% to RM 98,345, while FBM KLCI dropped by 1.07%, dragged down by heavyweight counters such as SapuraKencana and CIMB.

Total returns for the portfolio decreased from 1.5% to -1.7%.

The portfolio started on 8 July 2014 with a capital of RM100,000. Since then, it has still outperformed the FBM KLCI by 4.9%, which has fallen by 6.6%.

Total losses currently stand at RM 1,654.

There were no gainers yesterday in my portfolio.

The stocks that sustained large losses yesterday were SMPC Corporation Bhd (-13.4%) and Homeritz (-11.2%).

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