Pick of the Week for Week 32: Cash; Watch on the sidelines with focus on AGI and MPI

The proverbial Ghost month has probably started; it's not worth the risk to fight it. The volume today is thin, and it might be smaller moving forward making it less ideal even for range trading. This was profitable to us in the past few weeks, but would be more risky this month. The best option is to hold on to cash in the next two weeks, and watch on the sidelines.

I was about to choose a pick of the week from SCC, MER, MBT, and MEG, betting that at least one will make a substantial bounce in the coming days, but the current swings and waves of volatility combined with the small volume trading are not ideal to dive in to... unless you have time to be fully focused on the price movement. In this case, and indeed if you itch to participate still, then make small bets on any of the four or those that you perceive as bargains  and have reached bottom (Sy stocks BEL, SMPH, SMDC, SM have dived big and should be studied).

But if a downtrend is continues, it might be more profitable to reserve your cash, so we can get the likes of AGI when it reaches very attractive  price levels at 22 - 23 range. This stock is one of the most resilient this year, a clear favorite even of foreign funds (Ive attended a Bloomberg seminar recommending it as a better-diversified conglomerate with big room for growth). Also, AGI should be announcing dividends soon.

MPI is also worth watching and betting small bets in if it flirts with 4.93 - 4.96 again. Mentioned in a previous post why MPI is solid as a conglomerate. The recent addition to the Morgan Stanley index also should also have some bearing. Some big funds are still intact and should protect the stock strongly at 4.9.

I have entered small bets last week  on AC, ALI, MEG, BDO; have cut all of them, while the negatives are small.

I have substantial positions on MBT and MER from averaging down, will probably keep all even if loss reaches -8%, due to the "margin of safety" offered by upcoming dividends.