Comments:
April 2021 saw ALL my funds having a positive month on month growth. The main driver was the growth of the S&P500 (+5.2%) attributed to stabilizing bond yields and optimism for a swift economic rebound. Tracking the S&P500, the Hang Seng (+1.2%) also managed to eek out a bit of gains despite being bogged down by China's clampdown on big tech. The local KLCI also gained +1.8% buoyed by renewed interest in glove counters due to rising COVID cases (India!).
Big tech in general got a good boost this month after a pullback last month. The TA Global Tech was up +4.2% but did not do as well as XLK which was up +5.2%. The issue here is that TA Global has quite a bit of holdings in China big tech and they have been bogged down lately by China's regulatory clampdown.
The Principal Greater China (+2.5%) did well to beat the Hang Seng (+1.2%) this month due to its larger weight in tech. StashAway's performance was as one would expect (+2.4%) which puts it right between the S&P500 (+5.2%) and Hang Seng (+1.2%).
Investors can be seen flocking back into property & industrials from the rise of the Manulife REIT (+1.6%) and my Company Stock (Industrials in Europe +1.8%).
United ASEAN was the weakest performer this month (+0.0%) and I do expect to see this trend continue on for a while as this fund has done exceptionally well in the past few months. It was definitely due for a bit of a pullback.
The AmBond finally ended its 2-month slide by gaining +0.9% this month as the global bond yield stabilizes. That said it is still down overall by RM1,000 which is quite horrible considering that this is where I decided to park my emergency fund.
I did not save much (RM900) as I had a few one-time expense to take care of this month; namely kid's daycare registration / deposit & car insurance renewal. My food expense is also a little on the high side this month as I was guilty of some 'revenge spending' at some nice restaurants.
Forward Strategy:
I will continue to Value Cost Average (VCA) into my funds, keeping them at a fixed weightage as follows; United Global Equity (20.0%), StashAway (20.0%), TA Global Tech (20.0%), Principal Greater China (15.0%), United ASEAN (12.5%) and Manulife REITS (12.5%).