SMU E.y.E - Others   

Bond Funds

Hi

From the Fundsupermart.com website:

"Fundsupermart.com functions as a Secondary Dealer in the SGS bonds market and we do not participate in the primary market. We offer for sale SGS bonds that were previously issued at the SGS bonds primary market. As Fundsupermart.com operates on the model of a retail aggregator, we are able to negotiate better prices on behalf of our customers compared to the single investor. "

 

May I know whether retail investors can invest in SGS bonds via the primary dealers? How?

What are the differences between investing in SGS bonds via the primary dealers and via the Secondary Dealers?

Thank you!

 

depending on individual time horizon and risk preference, short term to Intermediate Bond fund offers investors better risk adjusted return. I agree that xdarkness13 that SGS Bond yield is super low.

solochn, if u do not intend to liquidate your bond portfolio within the next 12-18 months, i think purchasing a diversified global bond fund at low expense ratio and sales fee make sense. My personal preference is to buy 3mth SGS Bond at different date such that the different purchases will mature at different time to ensure desired liquidity.

 

 

imo, unlike government bonds in some foreign countries, SGS bonds offer yields so low yield that it is probably better to invest in fixed income funds if you need a low risk long term investment.

 

Hi Solochn,

 U can go to www.fundsupermart.com, under Funds info & research, choose funds info, fund selector and under main category, chose fixed income. U will be able to see some gd quality bond funds. but fees are so high that i feel u might be better off investing in SGS bonds. Same net return.


 Does anyone here do market play on SGS bonds? Ie: u don't hold the bond to maturity. Coz i'm thinkin getting strong YTS value thru bonds. Short - medium term play.
 

 Joeyhops

 

 

I too am keen to purchase bonds.

Went to the banks to enquire, but they were not too helpful, instead they recommended me some other funds.

Hope someone can help me on:

Are SGS bonds the only option avalible in Singapore?

If not where can I go to purchase other high grade bonds?

Please advise.

 

Interesting to note that on Fundsupermart, the current one week bestselller are the cash and short term bond fund, with so much risk adversion in the market, perhaps it's a good time to buy for long term investors.

 

It is definitely not a good sign for the stock market if people start talking about bonds or savings.... hahaha ...  

 

Hi bodobin,

the following link provides a good description of different risk structure of bonds http://www.sec.gov/answers/bondfunds.htm.

I disagree with littlemiss that bond are investment 'that can't really go wrong ". Bonds do can suffer intermediate loss in value when interest rate move against them even if they do not default. For an individual investor on the other hand, the risk could be the NAV of the bond funds falls as interest rate increases and we need the money at that reduced NAV, thus we do suffer actual capital loss.

to get to bodobin's qn on evaluating a bond fund, i'd stick to the way i look at stock funds,

1. Low expense ratio
2. Low management fee
3. Low sales fee
4. then, outperformance against bench

but i've only 3yrs of investing experience, so do take what i say with a huge pinch of salt.

more experienced investors please share your views.

 

 

You can even buy a bond fund like a share ex the Bond etf

http://www.sharejunction.com/sharejunction/listTopic.htm?msgbd=14220&msgbdName=ABF%20SG%20BOND%20ETF

Bond funds are usually differentiated by

1) duration to maturity of bonds held, ex a short term bond fund which uinvests in short term interbank deposits vs a long term bond fund which may invest in 10 year govt bonds.


2) quality of bonds , govt bonds ( highest rated, lowest yeilding ), AAA  ( called investment grade), or junk bonds ( higher yeilding but companies  are more likely to default on paying interest and principal).

 

 

littlemiss,

Singapore Government does not sell Bonds? Not true. You may go to their website just to see  https://secure.sgs.gov.sg/apps/goto/?app=dailyPrices
 

Read following:

SGS Bonds are issued by the Singapore government. They pay interest every half a year in the form of a coupon payment. SGS Bonds are better alternatives to fixed deposits and can be used to enhance guaranteed long term returns. Click here to find out more about how SGS Bonds work.

Bond Name	Years to Maturity	*Offer Indicative Yield (% p.a.)
N502100H; Coupon 2.625%; Maturity 01/10/2007	0.14	0.70
N503100S; Coupon 1.500%; Maturity 01/04/2008	0.65	2.30
NX98100H; Coupon 5.625%; Maturity 01/07/2008	0.90	2.36
NX99100S; Coupon 4.375%; Maturity 15/01/2009	1.44	2.23
N504100Z; Coupon 2.375%; Maturity 01/10/2009	2.14	2.32
N505100F; Coupon 2.625%; Maturity 01/04/2010	2.65	2.32
NX00100T; Coupon 4.625%; Maturity 01/07/2010	2.90	2.34
NX01100H; Coupon 3.625%; Maturity 01/07/2011	3.90	2.51
NX02100S; Coupon 3.500%; Maturity 01/07/2012	4.90	2.61
NX03100Z; Coupon 2.250%; Maturity 01/07/2013	5.90	2.72
NX04100F; Coupon 3.625%; Maturity 01/07/2014	6.90	2.81
NY01100F; Coupon 3.750%; Maturity 01/09/2016	9.06	2.86
NY03100A; Coupon 4.000%; Maturity 01/09/2018	11.06	2.92
NY05100N; Coupon 3.250%; Maturity 01/09/2020	13.06	3.09
NZ07100S; Coupon 3.500%; Maturity 01/03/2027	19.57	3.32

* These yields are based on indicative prices and are subject to change.

 

 

bodobin,

what do you mean by differentiate?  to me, bonds are things you invest in that can't really go wrong unless the company goes bust.  but i'm sure there's alot more to bonds than that right? 

to my knowledge, singapore govt doesn't sell bonds?  too much money lying around in temasek holdings already i think :P

 

A big issue with regard to bonds and the type of fund depends really depends on the return you are looking at. Some bond funds are catered for more risk adverse investors, hence the bonds which the fund invest in are higher quality bonds from MNCs or even government organisations which have AA or AAA rating. On the flip side, we have what is called junk bonds which are issued my companies with relatively poor credit rating and have some risk of default. Hence, the rate of return in terms of interest is higher. However, investors are exposed to a greater risk. Hence bond fund can be broken down into a few types. One of them is by bond quality i.e. AAA or AA or C. It can also be broken down geographically in terms of holdings. For e.g. some bond funds only own asian bonds while others can only hold european bonds.

 

Hi,

I would like to understand how bond funds can be differentiated from one another. I can understand how equity funds are different but I don't really understand how to evaluate bond funds.  Please enlighten.