I sold off my entire stake in Citigroup at a price of around US$44.11 last week. My average entry price for the stock was US$37.00. After some thought, I decided that the target price for Citigroup was not an event worth waiting for given that the profits would be marginal..
At first glance, it would seem that I should have made quite a tidy profit on Citigroup. But after examining it closer, the profits that I made were really peanuts. And this is largely due to the exchange rates.
Basically, I bought Citigroup when the USD (US dollar) to SGD (Singapore dollar) was around 1:1.4. The US dollar has however weakened significantly over the course of the years. So based on the exchange rate today, my profits were almost wiped out. You can take a look at the chart below to see how the USD has weakened significantly against the Singapore dollar.
I have learned this lesson on currency risk in my early days with 10% NZ Fixed deposits. Actually, nothing fantastic when it was back in my hand as SGD.
ReplyDeleteYou may understand why I no play overseas stocks. LOL!