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I suspect we will get this volatility for the remainder of the year
Some bloke says something in the States. Down 100 points.
Someone says the word "Greece". Down 100 points.
Someone say "QE3" - up 100 points. Someone says "QE2" and they all go off on a cruise.
An analyst downgrades a country. Down 100 points.
Someone in the US treasury farts unexpectedly. Down 100 points.
Ben Bananas smiles. Up 200 points. Ben burps. Down 100.
Up and down, up and down with it all ending up as a whole load of nothing.
Spin the wheel, folks, yes place your bets... or just toss a coin, far easier!
In fact I think we are waiting for someone or other to say something today, oh God knows, dunno about you but sick of the whole thing!
Greece, Italy, Euro, China, debt, credit, crisis, fed up with the lot of it!
After taking some reasonable amounts in the last month using FTSE spreadbets and the supershort I got tired of it all and done none of it at all this last week. I needed a rest. Indeed the market looks a bit tired all in all.
I suspect we will get this volatility for the remainder of the year. Or until something gets sorted for sure. Until then I suspect there will be massive down days and massive updays during which unless you're a daytrader it might simply be worth hiding behind the sofa with a good book and some toast.
But I have done a bit of share trading!! Though not much, for right now some nice profits are building, most of the companies still seem strong.
Domino Printing (LON:DNO) came up as a short at the seminar, it released a warning things aren't so good and no-one is buying their new stuff and maybe not for the rest of the year so I went in for a tenner a point at 501. I'm looking for 50-75points more downside. At 400 I would imagine it would become a nice recovery play.
I like the look of Eros (LON:EROS).
It makes Indian movies, a lot of Bollywood and the fundamentals look very nice indeed. Also, like Entertainment One I wonder if a bid approach could happen here as this sector of the market begins to look like one where bid activity is increasing. On top of that it seems to have a solid base in the 200p area and it looks like a rock bottom price and I reckon there is a 20% upside here at least, with a bid maybe a whole lot more.
Anyway I tucked away 2,000 Eros at 206.9 and a spreadbet as well. I guess I would take a loss if it went below 185 on the basis something might be wrong.
I bought some Ophir Energy (LON:OPHR) - 1,500 at 284.8 I do have the odd risky play in the ISA - this new issue has gone straight into the FTSE 250 and is currently being lifted by funds buying in. However anything with "Energy" in its name is always going to be a gamble - and volatile too, so just a small amount. It's drilling in Tanzania and has plenty of cash - it could pay off but I'm also willing to accept a loss here if I got it wrong.
And I bought some RWS (LON:RWS). It's a translations services company that seems in a good market. The real problem with this one is the often bad wide spread of 20 points. So I tried all week to get some on the order book at the sell price. However much I tried no-one would sell any to me. I guess this is a good sign so I had to sod it in the end and bought 1,000 at 437p. I had been trying to get them at 421. Never mind.
Finally shorted some Blinkx (LON:BLNX) - a firm punter's favourite. (Fans please don't send me hate mail). The price is very high because it's assumed to be a bid target. It might well be but it trades at way over 100 x profit to cap so an awful lot seems in the price so though I can see why people like its future potential, it seems overcooked for now. However given it could be a bid target I have stuck in a guaranteed stop on it so if there is a bid I won't be nursing heavy losses.
And, well I haven't taken any losses or profits this week! Everything I have seems reasonably stable given the volatile environment and given I took loads of profits in the last 6 weeks, I have stayed calm and left things alone.
A quick look around the portfolio though.
Coastal Energy (LON:CEO) is a tremendous share. Even if it does have energy in its name! As those of you who came to the seminar could see when we rooted round my accounts I have a lot shoved away in an ISA. It just keeps delivering excellent drilling reports and yet another good statement delivered this lunchtime. Its main listing is in Canada, the only downside to the UK listing is sometimes the spread is silly though you can deal within it. Out of all the shares in the portfolio, this one is probably the one for now with the biggest growth potential.
Recent buy Gulf Keystone (LON:GKP) raised loads more money at 140, some disappointment this wasn't at a higher price but I think eventually this one will come good and end up getting taken over at a much higher price than currently.
Bid target Entertainment One (LON:ETO) remains where it is - looks like it won't rise until some sort of announcement, still even with the bid off and a price falling back to 160 I'm still in major profits and in the end it doesn't matter as at some point in the future it'll be higher given its current trading.
Kofax (LON:KFX) sits a little higher as does Cape (LON:CIU). New Brit stays calm as ever (LON: NBPO). It's been a brilliant profit maker and dividend payer for me over the last 2-3 years - I did take some profits last time of over £3,000 and sitting on a near £7,000 profit still on my original buy.
Telecom Plus (LON:TEP) remains the star of the show at just under 7 quid with those buys on fear days looking good. Total profits are well in excess of £50,000 and way more than that personally - plus all those lovely dividends. I suspect 700 ish is the limit of upside for right now but 1000 looks on the cards for later next year.
Porvair (LON:PRV) produced a very nice statement yesterday reckoning they were doing rather well, I'd have thought shares here should be at least 100p, given that statement it really ought to travel up to recent highs of 120.
Kentz (LON:KENZ) produced a super fabulous report and in better times I'm sure they would be over a fiver, as it is still in a nice profit on these and feel sure eventually the ones I bought recently will pay off. They are now in the FTSE 250, all buys are in profit.
Dialight (LON:DIA) has held up pretty well too as has shares like Alternative Networks (LON:AN). Glad I held onto some of the Ocado (LON:OCDO) short after taking profits recently as it appears to be tanking yet again. It put out a statement and there seemed little in it to merit the current price, as I said here I always thought it was worth 80p tops.
Avon Rubber (LON:AVON) won another decent contract supplying masks to the USA and has risen nicely again and back near the 300p level and nice profits building on this, the original buy and the top up.
Character (LON:CCT) went back up after it fell, bid potential here. London Capital (LON:LCG) spreadbet is really paying off now, they must have made a lot in August and there has been some heavy buying coming in with the spreadbet up nearly £1,500, looks like more to come.
So the stategy continues for me.
Buy the odd bargain on a really bad day. Use FTSE spreadbets and the supershort for the ISA to short on the good days. Think about buying the FTSE in the low 5000s and sell or short once getting near 5500.
