Past Spread Betting Commentary

Friday 13th July

  Well, a fabulous night out at Kempton Park Races! I decided not to back favourites but go for longer shots - I had two bets of £20 on each race on horse over 10-1 - don't like each way, prefer two win bets instead. First race got the winner at 12-1 but even better tote paid at 15-1. Won £300, lost £20 on the other bet.

 Lost £40 on races 2-5 = loss £80 (the favourites won) Then won with Motafarred in the last at 11-1 but the tote again paid 15-1! Another £300 won, lost £20 on the other bet so a total profit on the night of £480.

 The gist of it was that the company seems very keen to get more customers in and advises managers to take drinks out into the street to bring people in. They started doing this last week. Also they give "cold drink" tastings to customers inside to try and get them to buy the high profit margin cold drinks.

 The staff notice seemed to have the drift that they need to bring more customers in and it seems a company wide thing. So it looks like a possible "tipping point".

And of course I could be talking complete crap. Well, I guess you can make up your own mind about that....Is Robbie talking crap? YOU decide!

 The stories in the papers today about Posh and Becks "not smiling" as they leave for the USA seem a bit unfair. After all, when was the last time YOU smiled at an airport?

 They are a complete pain in the neck now and I think they are perfectly entitled not to smile. I can't remember anyone smiling at an airport. I'm sure I haven't!

 The BBC/Queen row just shows it's time the BBC stopped chasing ratings and concentrate on good things instead of wasting time on sensationalist trailers. Can you imagine being the person in charge of making that trailer?

 What happened to you today? Oh, I just got the Queen really pissed off.... anyway I said sorry to her so I hope we're mates again..

I see some staffers at children's channel CBBC have staged a walkout. Honestly, they're acting like.. a bunch of kids!

Markets

 Goodness me, what a comeback! However I remain wary - it's when you start seeing huge rises in the Dow can mark the start of a downturn... I'm not complaining for right now though!

 I've bought 3,000 shares in RCM Technology (RTT) today at 241.23p (it was already up 4p). It's a little known tech trust which looks to have assets in all the right areas for me.

 It publishes its net asset values every day and shares move along with that rather than whether anyone has bought or sold. It seems to hold its own or go up on downdays too. A nice chart too.

 I just had to buy some more Dragon Oil (DG0) yesterday on what looked like a massive market-maker treeshake! I bought another 2,200 at 210.6p. Target 280 stop 190.

 The share tumbled from 225 to 208 taking out a lot of stop losses I'm sure and producing a selling climax. I bought just as it turned though missed 209 by a whisker.

 This shake is probably good news as I guess it happened so the mm's could pick up a bundle of shares. Anyway I took advantage!

 Staying with oils, I have topped up on Oilexco (OIL) buying 1,000 shares today at 656p. Target 800 stop 595. On the risky side of my normal dealings however I'll take the risk.

 Investors Chronicle has an interesting piece on it today pointing out the forward PE is only tennish when most in its sector are 20 with Tullow at 22. It's risen a lot recently but there could be a lot more here for me.

 I had my usual row with Barclays Stockbrokers regarding their refusal to allow this one in an ISA despite recent promotion to the main index. Something feeble about it being "registered in Guernsey". This is despite every other broker allowing this in an ISA and no tax reason whatsover.

 "It's our own decision," they say. I say unless they start allowing shares like this in Isas I shall be moving the many hundreds of thousands of pounds I have in Isas with them to another broker.

 Elsewhere a massive rise for Hunting where I still retain a long-term spreadbet in which I'm up nearly ten grand. However I'm kicking myself for selling a shorter term position in it earlier in the week missing a 50 point rise.

 Volex continues to see some bigger buying coming in and I'm surprised it's not moving. Wellstream heads back close to 500p.

 I was expecting my shorts to take a real hammering today and it didn't happen.. I continue to hold them as they will bring in the money on any market tank.

 My shortish term trade in Xchanging is doing exactly what I wanted! Nicely up and heading towards the target I set... nearly there!!

 Ms International rose another 7p over the last few days and continues to perform well - and even better news that directors are cashing in on options but not exercising them. Shows big confidence.

 Carphone Warehouse is now nicely up from my buying price. Int Ferro looks very strong today and breaking up nicely. And Wellstream is breaking up fast as I write!

 The portfolio continues to please me and looks very good indeed with much profit and only a very few positions in a loss and small ones at that.

Wednesday 11th July

  I'm doing a bit less hobbling now thanks for asking. Body is gradually repairing itself from falling over when running. Still cringing a bit from all the people that saw my spectacular downfall!

 Toddler Christopher had a great day yesterday - he went to the Science Museum with Mrs NT and his grandmother to see.... Bob The Builder.. live!  Apparently Bob did a lot of fixing and the lad can now sing the whole of the theme tune.

 He also went to Harrods for the giant Thomas Tank Engine. You don't think there is any possibility he is spoiled? Oh well he is off to his posh nursery tomorrow (£900 a month for 3 days pw).

 So tonight I'm off to Kempton Park races for a night of drinking and gambling. Well, that's two vices taken care of in one evening. Could be worse at least I don't smoke. A marching band and fireworks are promised as it's "British night".

 I'm taking a bunch of cash with me and will try and turn it into more. I'll let you know whether I was a super profit maker or a super prat on Friday. Looks quite difficult tonight with quite open racing - still you just never know!

 The last horse I part owned was called Baby Spice. The poor horse was pretty useless - she always lead but never seemed to manage to lead at the winning line. Except her last run before we sold. She coasted home at 33-1 and I only had a tenner on! Well at least I had it on with the tote which paid 47-1!

 I owned a number of horses in the 90s and one in particular was really good - called Neither Nor - which won a very good race. Bought for £5,000 she was sold to the USA for £40,000! So sometimes it pays off.

 I ended up having £2,000 on her in cash at 8-1. It's hard to get a lot on a horse without affecting the price so I cycled round dozens of bookies sticking on £50s. For about a year after the win if I was short of cash, I just grabbed one of the dozens of winning betting slips and cashed in!

 Surendra writes: I've been following your website updates and have noticed that you don't have stop placed on your FTSE 100 spread bet position? Please can you explain why?

 Yes, I hope so. The short is placed on the basis I feel the FTSE at some point this year will end up below 6600. It's a kind of insurance policy for me so happy to give it plenty of slack if need be. So there is no stop, it's a play it by ear trade.

Markets

 A tricky couple of days though bizarrely the portfolio has actually risen even though the main market has tanked! This is due to some nice rises on a couple of my positions and the shorts I have open.

 Caution must be the watchword for buys for the moment, but one that's been rising well in a falling market is Northern Investors Company (NRI) and that's one of the reasons I bought this morning. I bought 2,500 shares at 230p. Target 275 stop 195. It looks an interesting one and it invests quite a lot in unquoted companies.

 It has long periods where it does nothing and will suddenly move higher. I noticed it happens to be moving higher in a down market and that tempts me in. Bought a few for my sister's ISA as well as it looks quite defensive.

 I've shorted Marks and Spencers (MKS) yesterday - £20 a point at 646 (September contract). I think it may struggle from here for a bit and I noticed Mrs NT who used to go a while back has stopped going there. Must be a bad sign! Target 605 stop 670

 And I've added some shorts in Easyjet (EZJ) over the last couple of days which add up to £20 short at an average 510p. Target 440 stop 535. It's had a very good run but I think it's flying too high (gettit) and could come off a bit if the market goes down some more.

 I took profits in PV Crystallox selling at 154.2 yesterday - that's a profit of £660 on the 137 buy and £521 on the 136 position making a total profit of £1,181. Just decided this was a good time to take the profits for now in a weakish market. Having said that it's doing well today so I may be completely wrong!

 Also begging for profits to be taken was Corin which hit a ceiling at 580. So I sold yesterday at 569.55p for a profit of £1,321 on the 503 position and £636 on the other. Total profit of £1,957. I'll probably be back but it's been a nice trade.

 Also took profits in Hunting selling at 772 for a profit of £140 on the 758 spread. Just wary shares that have gone up a lot like Hunting could also come down a lot in a dud market. And I sold a small amount of my Harvey Nash holding at 85.05p yesterday for profits of £315 (for site purposes the 79p position) while keeping the main position going.

 That's total profits banked for the site of £3,593. Which brings banked profits for the site to over £350,000 for the first time.

 Elsewhere the portfolio is doing really well which is a big surprise after two days of tanking FTSE. Star performer is Volex which saw a huge surge of buying recently - after some good rises I'm hoping it will sit where it is for a while nice and quietly and then head higher again.

 Another star performer has been MS International which has also raced higher for me after those substantial director buys. While obviously tempting to take profits on these good performers the fact they hold well in a down market despite big rises makes me happy to hold on for more.

 Two other excellent performers: Dragon and Int Ferro. Dragon Oil has scooted higher since I bought last week - it seems to be consoliding right now at higher levels which is a good sign as one would have expected a bit of a pullback here. And Int Ferro has continued to move higher and seems strong in the weak market. Wellstream too holds up well.

 My shorts are going extremely well - collectively I am well over 150 points up on Provident Financial, Paragon, Renishaw and Alba - so all these have gone down nicely for me and if the market stays weak there may be more falls on the way.

 Shortish-term trade Xchanging is looking good, but I still would like another 20 points please! So all in all the portfolio continues to please with plenty of profits and only one or two anywhere near stop losses.

Monday 9th July

  Ouch! There I was having a nice Sunday afternoon run around the river when I lost the plot and spectacularly fell onto some nasty gravel. Which was very painful though not as painful as realising how many spectators had seen me. They were all very nice though.

 I hobbled home and have been hobbling since. A right hobbler. When I got home the only bandages available were Winnie The Pooh ones so I adorned myself with much Pooh.

 When toddler Christopher returned home he chased me round the place demanding his Winnie The Pooh "stickers" back. Looks like no more exercise for me for a while. Oh well, back to the chunky kit kat's then.

 Mrs NT and her sister went to see Lauren Hill at the Hammersmith Apollo last night. Apparently she was really good and they had a great time. Bit of a girlie singer though which is why I didn't go.

 Off to Kempton Park races Wednesday evening so I will be poring over the Racing Post all day trying to find the winners. I used to own parts of racehorses in the 90s - am getting tempted to buy one, maybe next year. They're having a "British" evening with marching band and fireworks so hopefully it will be a good evening!

Naked Rambling

 Hey, I thought there was going to be no "spin" from Gordon Brown. But here it is already. Stories all over the papers that we are about to have VAT added to food and other things because Europe says so.

 It's all nonsense - the stories have been planted in the paper so we can all sigh in relief in a few weeks' time when the Government proclaims it has saved us from the extra taxes and so we should be grateful. Taxes that would never be imposed anyway. It's a standard spinning trick.

 What's the point of the Alistair Campbell diaries if he's left out all the good stuff? He took out loads of things that "might embarrass" Brown. Wimp!! Apparently we only get the juicy stuff if Brown loses the election. Well, I have one vote that will help!

 The BBC fined £50,000 for the Blue Peter cock-up. Now who pays for the BBC - oh we do!! Brilliant move by Ofcom!

 I see Tycoon is back tonight cut by half and hour and at 10pm. Perhaps they should have just put it out of its misery and axe it - but I might watch to see if it's as bad as it was.

 The "Tycoon store" apparently has hardly seen anyone in it. Peter Jones has a bit of work to do to restore his reputation as an astute businessman. But I guess he doesn't care, he just wants to be on TV! Let's hope ITV stops copying winning formats with poor derivatives.

Markets

 The markets continue to be surprisingly strong - but I just roll with it though of course my FTSE short is under water. So what have I been up to? Well, really continuing my strategy of compounding or averaging up, ie buying more shares in companies I already hold at a higher price.

 Today I added more Volex (VLX) buying 2,500 shares at 192p. Target 250 stop 180. My main reason for topping up today was the good buying volume coming in.

 A 25,000 buyer at 190p. This was followed by a large 50,000 buyer who was willing to pay 5p over the odds at the time to buy at 200p.

 I'm always happy to be led by volume - if people want the share badly enough to pay well over the asking price it's always a good sign for me!

 I bought a final lot of MS International (MSI) buying a further 1,500 shares at 204 Target 230 stop 190. I bought following news of yet more director buying with one director buying 10,000 and another 15,000 - big votes of confidence considering the shares have already gone up a bit recently.

 Elsewhere it's been a really excellent month for my portfolio. Dragon Oil gets star billing - it's been racing higher and well up yet again today.

 Shortish term trade Xchanging continues to rise steadily and it had a broker upgrade too. International Ferro Metals advances well on good volumes today. After a brilliant rise, Wellstream is steadyish now which is just fine - I hold ahead of what I hope will be another leg up soon. Corin too is having a breather.

 Oilexco moves well and up and over 650p again. A lot of shares just seem to be unchanged today as the summer holidays start to get going in earnest!

Wednesday 4th July

  So there I was in the park with toddler Christopher. He was doing his usual thing - stealing other people's scooters and he proudly found three and handed them to me.

 Then the skies darkened and all the mums hurried home leaving us alone in the playground. It'll just be a quick shower, I thought. Bunch of wimps! Then it came down. I rushed Christopher to shelter underneath a toy train.

 Which had only partial shelter. The hailstones rocketed down. Lightening flashed everywhere. Thunder crashed down. Honestly? I was crapping myself. I lay on top of toddler so that if we got hit by lighting at least he's survive. It got worse and worse. I had visions of them finding two burned drowned bodies later in the day.

 Twas not a bother for the lad. He just wanted to eat the hailstones. Which he did. This carried on for half an hour. I was wet through but Christopher was dryish as I'd been protecting him.

 We staggered out of the toy train when the rain subsided for a minute and I had to debate on whether to make a run for it for home or stay in some sort of shelter. I decided for the dash.

 Lucky for us a kind lady who entered the park to pick up her kid's scooter (probably stolen by Christopher) saw us bedragged lads and offered us a lift home which was gratefully accepted!

 Anyway I can exclusively reveal we are shortly going to have a fantastic summer!  Why? Because forecasters predict the rest of the summer is likely to be a wash-out - with just one day living up to scorching summers of recent years. They said the sun will shine on Sunday July 15 but the wet weather that has ruined May and June will continue until the end of August.

 Piers Corbyn, founder of long-range forecasting firm WeatherAction, said: "You can forget about summer, the forecast is terrible. "It's hard to find a day where it won't rain somewhere. The best chance for a dry day is July 15 so plan your picnic for then.

 Well, Piers and all you other useless forecasters out there - just two months ago you were saying we were going to have one of the hottest summers ever and we faced a severe drought.

 We now know you were talking a load of crap then and a bigger load of crap now! As far as I'm concerned if you're telling me it's going to rain every day this summer the sun will shine down. And at the end of a beautiful summer remember who made the right forecast: Me!

Markets

 Wow! A fantastic couple of days for the portfolio with some excellent news coming from a few places. First the best announcement for me was Wellsteam which announced some great contract wins totalling over £100m from BHP Billiton. This shows great confidence from BHP and the shares rose massively as the news came out.

 I know quite well most people would take their profits on news but I am more of a compound up investor and therefore this morning I bought some more Wellstream (WSM) - 1,000 more shares at 469.25p to add to the ones bought at 390! Target 600p stop 400p. I am now holding Wellstream for the longer term here as I think it could become a biggie.

 I added some MTL Instruments (MTI) to my SIPP the other day at a bit of a lower price and yesterday I bought some more for my ISA - 750 shares at 570p to add to the ones already bought at 520p.

 There's been continued buying in this one and there was a good write-up on it in the Financial Times over the weekend as a share that could do well if the market tumbled given its specialist market. It seems intent on growing now and bought most of RTK for £3.7m yesterday which should be earnings enhancing this year.

 The big news came today from Corin which has had its hip product approved in the USA. You can't have a bigger market than the USA for hip products. It's difficult to value Corin but I imagine if its product is well received over there, there could be much more upside which is why I didn't sell on the news. It's quite possible it could become a bigger company and be in the FTSE 250 next year.

 MS International has been gaining daily and good to see the company thinks its shares are undervalued by buying back 200,000 shares yesterday. Cavendish Asset Management has just bought 10,000 shares. Seems to me the company is at last interested in improving value for shareholders and this should bode well for the share price.

 Dragon Oil has been showing a lot of strength as it heads over 200p. A little resistance here but there seems to be some good buying too.

 Keller's been a good climber and delighted to see it trying to push through the 1100 mark. Great company I think and a happy holder. Charter too has been rocketing.

 PV Cystallox is now in very good profit for me and is up another 5% today. The Renishaw short still goes well as does Paragon and Alba shorts but Provident raced up today depriving me of some of my short profits.

Monday 2nd July

  We made it back from deepest Devon! Hope you survived the week without me. While Devon was lovely it hacked down with rain the whole week.

 We hired a lovely cottage which proved absolutely enormous in a place called Thurlestone. Want to see it? OK, link is here for the nosey parkers among you.

http://www.holidaycottages.co.uk/property-details-overview.aspx?qs=productcode_e_HOMEC

 As you can see it's a lovely cottage and sleeps 12 - well there were four and a quarter of us so there was plenty of room!
No internet available anywhere in Devon except for in the local village hall, Wednesdays 2-4pm. (Village stores closed half day Wednesdays).

 So I just bought the FT every day and looked at yesterday's prices! Which is bizarre for someone like me used to know what's going on live every day.

 But in the end it was good. If I'd had access to broadband I'd probably have been on it a lot and it was supposed to be a holiday.  Despite the terrible weather we all had a good time but only managed to use the cottage heated swimming pool twice.

 Drama as we arrived and Christopher looked interested in the pool. "We'd better be careful in case he jumps in," said Elizabeth. "He won't try and jump in," I said haughtily.

 And of course he jumped in as soon as I said it, causing me to jump in fully clothed to haul him out. So we started the holiday with one wet daddy and son.

 After that we ensured all doors leading to the pool were locked at all times and anytime he was near it we were in close attendance. You can never be too careful.

 Still, it means when he's a teenager and playing up I can say "That's all the thanks I get for saving your life when you were 2..." And he can say: "Yes, dad you've only told me that story 100 times.. now do I really have to be home for 10pm?"

 My sister's husband (the top city lawyer) spent the week doing all the gourmet cooking (I'll need a month in the gym to burn it all off). Elizabeth did all the washing and dishes. I made all the cappuchinos.

 If you think that sounds an easy number I make gourmet cappuchinos that take 10 mins each. Quite hard work actually.
Really. OK, don't believe me and see if I care.

 And my sister..(the one that owns 4 West End theatres) well she was busy working as usual. She had a pile of scripts to read through and decide whether she wanted to stage them, which actors to use, negotiating rights etc. I read through one or two of the scripts which were interesting.

 In fact the phone went one night and an American voice said: "Is Nica there please?" "Sure," I said. "Who is it?" "Christian, " he replied.

 As in... Slater! I think she has him lined up for a new show later in the year. As you can imagine she knows a lot of interesting "information" about a lot of stars. Being a nice boy I don't sell any of it to the tabloids!

 In between the rain we did manage two visits to the beach which Christopher loved. He's a pretty fast mover for his age and we have to move quick to stay with him!

 On one day were going to go to a steam railway track and have a ride but it rained harder and harder on the day so we gave up and went to kids adventure park which ended up being a good move as Christopher got a ride on a mini railway - and so did I - about 20 times. Plus bouncy castles, waterslides and all sorts.... I went on all these things though Christopher didn't seem interested (!!)

 Elizabeth won the Scrabble tournament with a well-placed "incites" to earn 75 points. (Damn it!) Still at least my sister didn't win!

 I drove all the way back in one hit (about 4 hours). Christopher managed to stay awake most of the time but it was like having someone drunk on the back seat piping up with nonsense from time to time. (My usual role).

 Anyway back in London and switching on the TV again. What happened to Tony Blair - he doesn't seem to be on anymore and Gordon Brown is everywhere!! Did something happen while I was away?

 Richard writes: Do you do the same Fundamental & Charting analysis whether you are Trading shares or Spreadbetting?

 Hi Richard. Yes generally speaking. I look at spreadbetting as another method of making money with the aid of extra leverage and also use it to buy AIM shares without tax implications. I think of spreadbetting as a little shorter term than ordinary buys but my fundamental approach to whether a share is a buy or not applies whichever method!

Markets

 As I already mentioned it was weird not having the internet and access to share dealing! However in the end no real damage was done. Some things went up and some went down and judging by totals in my accounts it all balances out. Nothing gained but not much lost either. And my shorts did well.

 So not a lot of trades to report. Before I left I shorted a new one: Alba (ABA) for £20 a point at 164p. Target 120 stop 180p. This one is under the cosh and just doesn't have much going for it. Consumer electronics is a dire sector and the chart says it all.

 And after I got back on Friday I added some more MS International (MSI) buying a further 2,500 shares at 178p to add to the ones I bought at 159p. Target 220 stop 155p.

 The results last week were pretty good I thought and tempted me into the top up when I got home from Devon. A director bought 5,000 at 177p at the end of last week which looks encouraging.

 And today I took profits in Alterian selling at 165 for a decent profit of £1,122. Main reason for selling is the lack of any real movement recently. But it's had a good run for me. I would certainly be interested in looking at this one again in the future.

 Elsewhere as mentioned above not much seemed to happen while I was away though I feel a tiny bit out of touch! I saw recent buy Volex went up - looks like some nice buying was the reason.

 MTL Instruments has continued its recent steady rise and again more buying is being seen than usual. Marchpole produced very decent FY results - in this climate of course they went down a bit but I continue to hold these long-term.

 All my shorts have been doing very well - good profits now in Renishaw, Provident Financial and Paragon. Dragon Oil has just managed to scramble over 200p! But it does look strong at this level and the level 2 order book looks very good. I still think an orderly rise to 220 at leasy is on the cards.

 Excellent trading statement from Wellstream - I don't think it'll take much to see that one rising again. Corin continues to look exciting and is poised to break 550p. Foseco looks strong again after a decent recent statement.

 Trifast was tipped in the Mail on Sunday and rises on the back of that. Telecom Plus has got back above 200p. Int Ferro has done bugger all since I bought - but it's about to move to the main market which means I'll be able to put some in my ISA. So for now I'll be happy if it stays level!

Friday 22nd June

  I'm afraid this is the last update for a week as I'm off on holiday! Yes, me the Mrs and toddler Christopher are off to deepest Devon with my sister and her husband till next Friday. We have a rented cottage for a week complete with swimming pool. In fact I believe it is quite a posh cottage.

 I hope you don't miss me too much as the next update won't be till Monday after next (July 2nd). I gather some of you are addicted to the site.

 All I can suggest is some counselling, which is around £40 an hour I believe. Or, you can keep reading these words over and over again every day till I get back. Though that could drive you bananas.

 Otherwise I suggest reading a good book instead. How about War And Peace? That should keep you going. Of course being Wimbledon week the forecast is diabolical. But we hope Christopher will have a lot of fun.

 I just saw on the news some Cornish villages being flooded so we are armed with wellies and a good coffee machine. How will us townies take to it? Not too well probably!!

Markets

 As mentioned above, it's a bit tricky knowing I'm going away on hols with hardly any access to the internet. If the market crashes next week (ooops maybe I shouldn't have said that) I'd be struggling to close out.

 But I guess sometimes you have to let things go. I have reduced some spread positions and trust the portfolio to hold up ok as it is pretty defensive. And I do have the FTSE short.

 Anyhow talking of defensive I topped up on RM (RM.) yesterday as it appeared to come down too quick after an excellent day on Wednesday. I bought 3,000 shares at 205.4p. Target 245 stop 180. It appears to me to have little downside and some potential decent upside though I believe I may need some patience. But I have tons of that!

 And I bought some Int Ferro (IFL) picking up 4,000 shares today at 122.9p. Target 170 stop 95. This company appears to be in great demand and sales are currently above expectations.

 The best thing is it's about to move to the main market any day and I hope to pick some more up for my ISA once it is on main.. The move should give it a good chance of getting in the FTSE 250 later in the year. They've gone up quite a lot recently but I prefer to buy shares on a roll. Some massive volume so far today - over 3 million shares traded.

 I took a loss of £551 on Xchanging selling yesterday at 270.24p. Very disappointed but it was heading south at an alarming rate and as Scotty used to say on Star Trek "I canna take no more.."

 I've taken profits on Croda. I've held them for around a year and I think it's simply time to cash in after a very good run.
So I sold today at 655.25p to take a very handsome profit of £5,051. That adds to some good profits I took on them earlier this year and last. Thank you Croda and goodnight for now!

 Elsewhere PV Crystalox is probably my star of the day up nearly 3% and has done nicely since I bought a few days ago.
Wellstream continues to be a shining star too - a lovely gain in just a month. Vanco looks very strong today. Just 4 weeks left for Shares Mag to reach its 150p shorting target (what a joke!)

 My shorts are going extremely well especially Provident Financial and Renishaw both in a fine profit. Trifast remains a puzzle - can't understand why it's not going higher though it is very stable.

 Recent buy Dragon Oil settles just under 200p - always a struggle to get through whole numbers but I like the volumes on this one and hope a rise through 200p could lift it to 220p in time.

MTL Instruments continues to creep up every day and looks like it'll make me a profit at last!

 Well, all I can do is hope for the best with the portfolio while I'm away and also hope I don't end up in some internet cafe having to do some selling! I will be trying my hardest not to trade unless I absolutely have to!

Wednesday 20th June

 The Pope has laid down the ten commandments of car driving according to the papers. One of them suggests a car should "Not be used for sinful purposes."

 That's me done, I've sinned and sinned again. Especially when I was a teenager. Not quite so bad recently - but I did have a binge on green aero bars in the car the other day....

 Because toddler Christopher is a bit on the small side he went for a few tests at the hospital yesterday. He was very brave when it came to the blood test!

 We're not too worried at this stage - he's in the bottom 10% for size but Elizabeth and I aren't big people so it's not that surprising but still - it's worth checking.

 To make amends I bought him a talking Thomas Tank Engine and Bertie The Bus and he's proudly taken them to nursery today to show off and I expect he'll spend all day trying to hold onto them...

 We had a visit from three lovely former Polish staff that I used to employ at the cafe before I sold it last year. They really are great youngsters and their parents should be very proud of them. To come to a foreign country and make a success of it must be difficult.

 One is off to France to get married and one's hoping to become a lawyer. Really they all deserved better jobs however nice my cafe was!

 It's such a shame that none of them feel Poland has anything to offer yet. They think it'll be their generation that will get things changed and their current government is too stuffy.

 If you remember it was the Polish government that banned the Teletubbies because Tinky Winky "Promoted gayness". They pretty much feel the same about their government as many of us do about ours which is:

 Stop overregulation of everything, nannying and red tape because it simply isn't necessary. A lot of us are quite intelligent and can really get on with our lives and what we do without interference.

 The most idiotic thing is the arrival in offices across the land of "smoking inspectors" checking no-one is smoking inside. What a waste of time and money. Offices are perfectly able to police themselves.

 And isn't it time the "No Smoking" signs everywhere were ditched? We all know we can't smoke in public places so let's take them down - they just litter the place and look horrible. In fact let's take a look at all useless signs all over the country and take them down!

Markets

 I bought Dragon Oil today for the first time in a while after doing well with them last year and the year before. They haven't really moved for a long time but they appear to be on the move again so I bought 2,200 shares at 187.96p. Target 220 stop 175. Oil explorer Dragon (DGO) has seen some nice volume coming in and I really bought on the strength of that.

 Elsewhere some of the portfolio is going well. Recent buy PV Crystalox has been racing higher recently and up nicely again today. Boot H continues a good looking run higher.

 Maybe my patience with MTL Instruments is going to pay off - they started to rise yesterday with some decent buyers coming in over the last week or so.

 Trifast came up with terrific final results with profits up 55%. Dividend is up 12% and it's had a good start to the year. I cannot fathom why it's not trading up and over the 100p mark. I can only guess the zip market doesn't get investors very interested.

 Sondex issued a very positive trading statement today, the shares have responded well. I continue to hold long term. I'm pleased with my Renishaw short. Shares continue to go down daily and profits are growing!

 Star performer for me is recent buy Oilexco - a nice 30p rise today and the chart looks better and better. Harvey Nash consolidates well at higher level and I expect to remain patient and wait for another move. Carphone Warehouse consolidates too. Maybe more to come so I hold.

Monday 18th June

Saturday afternoon we went to a fete at Christopher's nursery in aid of a good charity. Which ended up being good fun.
For a tenner's go at the tombola I won: Some posh cosmetics which Mrs NT said were pretty good, and, er a crate of 26 bottles of diet coke which they have stored for us at the nursery.

 Christopher discovered where some of the sweets for prizes were stashed and made a few raids. As he was recovering from a virus I turned a bit of a blind eye (yes I know I spoil him).

 On Sunday we were all out on the bikes and we cycled to Holland Park where Christopher had a lot of fun and we ended up at Wholefoods for lunch. So a very pleasant weekend. 

Markets

 Goodness me, with interest rate rise worries not so prevalent the markets have had a good few days. What have I been up to? Actually not that much what with travelling. But I made one or two trades, all on the 14th.

 I bought 3,000 shares in Volex (VLX) at 180p. Stop 170 target 220. It's the usual boring sounding company that gets me going (electronic cable assembly) although nobody else! I had these on my shortlist for ages and bought once they started moving on Thursday.

 I bought for medium term because the company is restructuring itself away from poor markets and into good ones. I like these kind of turnaround companies.

 I also bought shares in a company which is moving from AIM to main shortly and my feeling was the move will generate interest from institutions. That company is Oilexco (OIL) and of course being an oil company it has big risks.

 But recent drilling reports look encouraging to me and together with the move to the main market it seemed a good time to buy. I bought on the spreads for £15 a point at 620. Target 750 stop 580.

 And I topped up with Hunting (HTG) on the 14th buying an extra £10 at 758. Target 825 stop 730. Already have a huge gain on this and have taken profits along the way.

 It seemed a good point to get in. On this occasion I'm looking at a short-term trade here. The crucial resistance point for me appears to be just under 800p.

 Elsewhere best share for me over the last few days has been Harvey Nash which has sprinted higher since I topped up. Of course it's tempting to bag the profits but it says today current trading is still strong and I do like to run my profits.

 Vislink has been strong over the past few days and there seems a good chance it can get back into the 90s where surely it belongs. On the disappointing list is Xchanging which has come back. However I'll stick with it for now.

 My shorts are actually not losing me too much considering the big rises - however the Ftse short is getting a bit adrift. However it is supposed to be an insurance policy and I still think at sometime during the summer the Ftse will be lower than 6600.

 Vanco starts a deserved rise at last. PV Crystalox at last shows some spirit and is rising at the moment. Carphone Warehouse is showing a lovely increase since I bought recently and again some temptation to take profits. Finger nearly on the button. Finally a superb rise in Corin today - I held my nerve when it dropped last week and glad I did!

Wednesday 13th June

 Apologies first - there'll be no Friday update - next update will be on Monday.

 Somehow I've managed to sprain my lower back and it's quite painful at the moment - so if you see me hobbling about, that's the reason! It's okish if I'm standing but going from sitting to standing is when it hurts.... ow!

 Being a parent seems to get more and more rewarding. It's delightful really as he talks more. And it just about makes up for being dragged out of bed and 6.30am to watch Balamory. What's the story? Please don't tell me I can't take it any more... Bob The Builder - can he fix it? Really I could care less...

Markets

 Up and down and up and down, who knows where? I simply feel it's sensible for me to have a few shorts open for now as insurance against a slide. I think most investors are nervous.

 I've held shares in Harvey Nash (HVN) for a while. Since December and I'm in profit by nearly £3k. I noticed big volumes coming in yesterday together with a rising price.

 Two things I could have done, take my profit or buy more but studying the shares again I decided if I was looking at them afresh I would still be a buyer.

 So I bought HVN again - this time 6,000 shares at 79.8p. Target 95 stop 65. I guess you could call it "averaging up". I especially liked the big volumes that came in and this was one of the main reasons for the top up.

 I also think the market cap looks way too low for current and future likely profits. There appears to be yet more huge buying going on today with the price rising again - I see a buyer just came in for 40,000 at 85p.

 Vislink has proved very frustrating for shareholders like me. What do you do when a share you think is cheap keeps going down? Well I would normally accept what the market is telling me and quit.

 But I looked at them afresh and I can't see any real reason for the fall except for pi's quitting and something about shareholders upset about directors' pay. Of course growth may have slowed but that seems in the price and the falls look overdone for me.

 I added 5,000 new shares at 77.68p yesterday afternoon. Target on these 92, stop 72. A tight stop in case I am catching the proverbial falling knife. This is to add to the shares bought a while back in the early 50s.

 I took profits in RPS at 355 landing a profit of £780. It's had a good run and it seemed time to bank. The deal was on June 7th and I forgot to list it here on that day when I made so many trades - apologies.

 Elsewhere an excellent rise in a recent buy of mine, Wellstream which shot up yesterday and is going up today. Boot H is rising. Carclo reported excellent figures yesterday and I'll stick with it and Marchpole reported a new contract win. PV Crysatloz has proved disappointing so far but I'll stick with it and give it some time.

 Vanco announced another set of contract wins today and Goldman Sachs has put out a new buy note with a target price of 505p. The Goldman note said its blue chip client list could make it an acquisition target.

 All the shorts I took out recently are in profit. I'm up nicely on the FTSE short. They are proving a decent insurance so far against market falls. I have to decide whether to get out of them fast if the market zooms higher.

Monday 11th June

  What a glorious Sunday! Nothing like this country when the weather is good, shame it doesn't happen more often. On Saturday we paid a visit to the foodstore everyone is talking about - you may have come across it in the papers over the last few days. It's called "Wholefoods" and it's a chain of massive organic supermarkets.

 It was massive and absolutely packed to the rafters. You can buy anything your heart desires including 60 types of cheese. You can buy pretty much any type of meal from Shepherds Pie to a crunchy salad.

 We ate upstairs (350 seats available) and the food was very good. But mightily expensive. £15 for two salads that we boxed up ourselves. Interesting for retailers to see that people in London anyway are happy to pay any price going for really good produce.

 Fascinating to see that Marks and Sparks which is nearby sees Wholefoods as a big threat. Why? Because outside their store were promotion girls, stiltwalkers and clowns giving out balloons to entice shoppers to give Wholefoods a miss.

 This either means M and S Management are on the ball and fighting the threat or that M and S Foodhalls will eventually be in trouble from new rival stores. People seemed happier boxing up their own salads rather than buying them ready packaged.

 There was a great atmosphere and I would say management is just amazing. They have flown in a lot of staff from the States and they know their stuff. Oh, Wholefoods is in Kensington High St London and maybe coming to near you soon..

 Talking food and drink, a Starbucks secret you may want to know. Want a cheaper and better coffee that's not on the menu?

 Ask for a "short" cappucchino! It's basically a small coffee as it should be - you get all the flavour and it's 25p less than a "tall". If you go into a Starbucks and ask for a "small" you will get a "tall". You must ask for a "Short".

 You'll find Starbucks keep their "short" cups and mugs hidden away because they don't want people to see them. That's because the extra 25p they charge for a "tall" is a huge profit mark up for only a small amount more of extra milk. The "short" is their lowest profit margin which for us consumers makes it a buy!

 And if you want an even nicer coffee and actually TASTE the coffee, ask for a "short, dry cappucchino". That's what I always ask for and it's delicious and... cheap!

 As you know when you order a "Tall" or any other order the order will be shouted out loudly. Now watch what happens when you order the "short" coffee. The order will be... whispered....! That's because they don't want you to know! Enjoy the savings (roughly £175 a year if you have 2 coffees a day) - just send me a nice Xmas present!

 On Sunday went to see my mum (who was paralysed by a stroke last year). But sadly she seems to be going downhill a bit. Very tired and hardly said a word. Just a reminder: enjoy life while you still have it.

Markets

 New trades to report. I bought 3,000 shares in PV Crystalox (PVCS) today at 136.84 and a further 4,000 at 137.72. Target 195 stop 115.

 The company is one of the world's leading independent producers of solar grade silicon products for solar electricity generation systems. Institutions seemed very keen to get their hands on shares in the recent placing.

 New energy related shares are popular and I expect to hold these for a few months as the company appears to be operating in an area where there is much demand.

 I also bought (on Friday afternoon) 2,500 shares in Carphone Warehouse (CPW) at 328.1p. I like last week's statement and the company's management appears to listen and is maybe over the launch glitches of its broadband services. There is also good volume here. Target 380 stop 290.

 I've added a new short in Renishaw (RSW) selling at £10 a point at 672 (Friday). Looks to be in a nasty decline. Target 605 stop 740.

 I took a loss of £326 on Vega selling at 263.03. Been very disappointing but I much prefer to take small losses on shares that have gone lower quickly than let them slip further.

 Elsewhere it's been a good day on the markets with many of my shares making back some lost ground. However I'm still glad I have a few shorts in place because it doesn't look like the volatility is going to go away anytime soon.

 Wellstream in particular has rebounded well for me. RM has performed well after being tipped in the Telegraph. Corin continues to shoot up on good volume and that proved a good buy for me.

 Trifast must be one of the most boring shares I have ever owned - but it is going up today and with results next Tuesday maybe at last it will rise!

 Air Partner has proved disappointing in the last few days - however I will give it a little slack though will take losses if it hits my stop. Dyson holds well above 300.

Wednesday 6th June

  That Olympics logo!! What can you say? How much did it cost? I'm sure any of you reading this could have done a better job for next to nothing. Just how much money do people with power waste?

 How come when they get their hands on public money they spend it like Beckham? Talking of spending we soon have to decide which lucky school is going to get our money to educate young Christopher. We went to visit one this morning. More news on that at the next update!

 Goodness me it's nearly time for another holiday! Not long now before we're all off for a week in Devon in a country cottage with no internet access.

 That means for the first time in many years I won't be able to access prices or a whole week unless I get a quick look at an internet cafe!

 Know what? I think it will be good for me to have some real time off! It's going to be interesting as we'll be there with my multi-millionaire sister who owns four West End theatres.. and her.. er multi-millionaire husband who is one of the country's top lawyers!

 It's certainly going to be interesting. They are obviously very competitive and I bet they'll be sore losers when I stuff them at Scrabble!

 They want to get to know Christopher better. I suspect it'll probably be good for them too. However I suspect my sister will still be constantly on her mobile.

 On another subject I forgot to mention at the posh French restaurant we went to at the weekend we ordered beef for two.

 "The chef recommends it rare to medium," said the French waitress.

 "Er," we said. "Can we have it medium- well done cos French chefs tend to cook rare to medium pretty rare..."

 "Well, he recommends it rare to medium," she ploughed on gamely. "Well," I said. "Can we just ask for it not to be too bloody?"

 She relented. And kind of whispered... "Ze chef is actually.... English... So I think you will be allright..."

 And, well she was right. We got it perfectly cooked and she didn't get shouted at by the chef asking why some cretin wanted it cooked well done..So, well done all round and g and t's too.

 This has got to be the saddest story of the week. Radio DJ Hannah Clarkson has given up her job - so that she can watch Big Brother all day long. The DJ on Portsmouth-based station The Quay left after her boss wouldn't give her the time off.

 "You're supposed to enjoy the summer months and I just got fed up with the thought of working while Big Brother is on telly 24/7," she said. "I can't bear to be without it."

 Her boss Sam Matterface was not impressed. "I don't understand why anyone would give up their career to sit in front of the TV for three months - especially to watch a load of mindless idiots who everyone will forget about after the summer."

 Sounds like an April Fool - wish it was. I'm sure a lot of people would love her job. Maybe it's a sign of the times? Not sure which of the brainless bimbos on BB is worse - take your pick!

Markets

 Bit of a miserable old day today. The market appears to want to go down but I'm not sure for me it's time to sell out just yet and go short. I am happy to be patient and watch events unfold. However I have taken some profits.

 I took my profits in Morgan Sindall - the massive 250 point rise this week has just been too much of a temptation even though I like to run my profits.

 I sold yesterday at 1544.05p to bank a nice profit of £1,322 . It's had a lovely run on the back of its acquisition from AMEC but with a tremendous rise some of that must now be in the price.

 I also sold Bluebay yesterday to take profits at 563p. That too has had an amazing run and I think it's time I cashed in. That's a profit banked of £519.

 And perhaps surprisingIy given market conditions, I did make a buy, or more a top up in Corin (CRG) buying a further 2,000 shares yesterday this time at 503.5p. Target 620 stop 475. It's the one I like with the hip replacement products recently given authorisation in the states. Total profits banked for the site today: £1,841.

 Elsewhere most shares have been hit in some way today as investors take fright and sell. Telecom Plus reported yesterday.

 A good strong statement - it's awash with cash and planning share buybacks. So the shares to my mind are underpinned at this level and they appear to be cheap. I would buy some more on any quick pullback.

 Vanco produced a detailed statement showing their accounting practices, criticised by shorters. I'm no accountant but I feel Vanco has answered all the criticisms and I remain a holder.

 My long-term hold Chime produced a good-looking trading statement today with "all divisions performing strongly" and remain a holder.

 Property related stocks have had a torrid day especially Galliford. However unless it breaks my stop I'll carry on holding. Wellstream and Xchanging have been hit, however as I feel both are strong companies I think they will come back for me.

 Surprisingly I have one or two in blue! They include McBride up nearly 3%, Diploma too goes well today and is higher as is Carclo.

 Many others are unchanged. It seems the FTSE350 stocks for now are the ones moving while smallcaps seem relatively unscathed.

Monday 4th June

  What a lovely weekend - hope you all enjoyed the sunshine!  We're determined to make the most of summer and the long evenings and looking to book things up/ go away/ take lots of holidays.

 Our excellent babysitter/cleaner came on Saturday. Oh yes, that's right she babysits and instead of sitting there watching TV in the evening... she cleans! Want to know her number? Well, you can't have it. Are you kidding?

 We had a wee party in the afternoon for some friends and their children which was fun. Except, well, I, er ate at least 3 doughnuts and I don't know how many eclairs.

 We then cycled along the river to have dinner at a sensational restaurant in Chiswick. Except of course I was stuffed with eclaires.

 Still, I manfully downed my three courses which were heavenly. I even got them to box up 4 amazing chocolate truffles to take home.

 In the morning I gave toddler Christopher his early morning milk - I then made myself some tea and toast. I came into the living room to discover the lad had found the truffles box, broken it open and had scoffed three of them for breakfast! Like father like son eh!

 Sundays are so less cluttered without the Sunday Times! They wonder why their sales are falling when you can read everything you want to on the net. I just read the people I like. No mess, no papers hanging around everywhere! And £2 saved = £100 a year = one very good meal at that restaurant!

 We were stopped by PC Plod for... the criminal offence of riding our bikes just after a sign on the river towpath "cyclists dismount".

 As I explained to PC Plod (who was also on a bike and therefore breaking the law himself) that I had dismounted but had then re-mounted so had in law, obeyed the sign.

 Surprisingly he said: "It's bloody stupid, if I had my way I'd allow cycling here. See you later!" I guess you could argue considering we weren't a danger to anyone that was pretty sensible policing!

Markets

 Benign markets appear to be continuing for the moment at least though the FTSE is down a bit. But the portfolio is doing very well today, and nothing has so far tempted me to buy today.

 I never try and fall into the trap of buying something for the sake of it, or out of boredom. I don't fancy taking any profits on anything either!!

 Best news for me today is the announcement from Morgan Sindall, a long-term hold. Nice to wake up to one of your shares up 200p! Morgan is buying 2 environment businesses from Amec.

 Over the long-term it'll mean Morgan will grow in size. While tempted to take profits on such a big rise today with the market liking this deal so much, I'll stay with it.

 I'm pleased with the progress of my holding in Investment Trust Montanaro which seems to be climbing most days. My two recent IPO buys Wellstream and Xchanging both appear strong. Alterian seems back on the march upwards.

 RM after its recent contract announcements seems to have conquered 200 for the moment. Recent buy Air Partner continues to progress very well and is just about over 1400 today. If it can stay up entry to the smallcap index beckons this month.

 Foseco approaches the point where I might be tempted to sell but when it hits 220 I will look at it again. Waterman after having a quiet spell has been climbing over the last couple of sessions and could get above the tricky 200p area again.

 Keller carries on its relentless progress for me. Hedge Funds Bluebay and BH Macro continue to go higher with Bluebay going exceptionally well... 

Wednesday 30th May

  As per usual, site updates will become three times weekly during the summer - Mons, Weds and Fridays. Yes, I know but it really is supposed to be the start of summer though the BH weekend was a disaster and it's not been great this week either.

 Elizabeth's sister had flown in from New York for a few days and we were hoping to do lots of fun things with her and toddler Christopher. But the continual downpours left us unable to get on our bikes or go to the park. Very disappointing..

 But it was great to see Julie and even better to know she's pretty much decided to quit New York (where she works as a trader for a bank) to come and live back here.

 We're looking at doing a lot of relaxing this summer - got a week booked in June with my sister in Devon, Portugal in September and some long weekends too.

 There's a Thomas The Tank Engine steam train ride I want to go on.. I mean I'm sure Christopher would want to go on...
Talking of Thomas, anyone out there with any old videos of Thomas, Teletubbies, Little Red Tractor, Fireman Sam, Balamory or suchlike you don't want? Any gratefully received! Picked up one or two from the charity shop. Way prefer videos to DVD's.

 They can't be destroyed so easily by a toddler and also you don't have to start the bloody things from the beginning every time and go through all the tedious copyright warnings..

 This wet half term week must be driving parents crackers. Nowhere to go, nothing to do! I have a feeling parental/child relations are not at their best this week.

Markets

 Since my last update the markets have been up and down like a yo yo with a downday today following news the Chinese authorities are trying to cool down its markets by adding more taxes. I remain wary of the market and anything I buy needs to be very carefully considered.

 A couple of trades since I last updated a week ago. I bought Management Consulting Group (MMC) on May 24th buying 10,000 shares at 52.48p. Made a loss on these last time I bought them but this time hoping for a better outcome.

 I like the recent volumes that have been coming in though for the time being I am looking reasonably short term, about 1-3 months for the moment. AGM statement has results inline. Target 60p stop 48p.

 One more buy to report, a top up in chemicals maker Dyson (DYS) with 1,900 shares bought at 282p on May 25th. Again good volume coming in through 300p may be a tricky hurdle for me to get through. Target 320 stop 245.

 I took profits on Tribal selling at 161.1 on May 29th which banks a profit of £612. Waiting for news now on Homeserve's declared approach to Domestic and General. It is very tempting to take profits with the shares up and over 1400 and I wonder whether I'm being greedy waiting for more?

 Looks to me as if Air Partner that I bought last week could make a surprise promotion into the smallcap index though I'm not sure - with the market cap up and over £140m I think it stands a good chance.

 Generally FTSE250 stocks have been hammered today (Spectris and Hunting for example) but small cap stocks seem to be holding their own.

 So in fact the bulk of the portfolio is unmoved so far today with one or two small risers. Hardest hit Hunting and Vanco though both are longer-term holds with good profits built up in Hunting.

 Wellsteam has proved a good buy for me so far. Hedge fund BH Macro appears to be unaffected by the sell off as does plenty of others including shares like Marchpole, Foseco, Alterian and Waterman.

Thursday 24th May

  I'm taking a long bank holiday weekend off so I'll be back again with the next update on Wednesday. Elizabeth's sister is coming from New York for a few days so it should be a fun weekend and she is really looking forwards to seeing toddler Christopher...

 Whatever you're doing over the bank holiday weekend I hope you all have a really good time - the weather forecast looks reasonable with Saturday being the best day. Enjoy it while you can as by the bank holiday of course it all turns rotten. I'm sure some of you are taking the kids somewhere for half term and a lot of you will be on holiday - have fun!

 I've increased the amount of care my mum is getting bit still feel bad that I can't visit her much as she's quite some way away. I would really like to move her into a fantastic home which is close by and would mean I could see her more often. For the first time ever she has expressed an interest.

 I think at last she realises how boring it is lying in one room on her own for a lot of the day when she could be in the company of others - it would really suit her as she is so gregarious - this home has activities all day for her to take part in. It's £1,000 per week but worth every penny. We shall see.

 Richard Farleigh has been axed from Dragons Den and there is a bit of a row about it - more on this breaking news in the mailbag section of the website further down.

Markets

 Comments from Alan Greenspan (thought he'd retired!) have brought the FTSE100 down today and shares are mainly weak as I write. Oil and miners are down

 However I bought a speculative small amount in Air Partner (AIP) today with 450 shares at 1330. Target 1600 stop 1170. I've been meaning to buy for a while and keep watching it go up. Of course it is always risky buying a share that is climbing so fast because it could also go down just as fast.

 There seems to be increased volume today. It recently agreed a 5m lease for development of the Biggin Hill airport site. I expect to hold for about 4-6 months unless it hits my stop.

 Elsewhere Domestic and General reported some decent figures. Not that it matters - it's all about whether Homebuy goes through with its bid. Under the rules they have a certain timescale to decide so there should be a decision one way or the other soon.

 One of my holdings Alterian reported today - a positive forward statement and I think on that I'll leave them now as a long-term hold for possible growth.

 BootH has seen a good rise after the recent bonus issue. Otherwise mainly a small downday for some of my portfolio. However Renold has risen and my oil service sector stocks are strong on a down day. My holding in John David is trying to crack 600.

Tuesday 22nd May

  My toddler Christopher is very keen on money already. I walked him down to the nursery this morning and he spent most of the time trying to hand money to anyone that passed by.

 "I got money!" he kept announcing. He certainly has in his child trust fund but I'll tell him about that when he's 18.  He told the nursery boss he had some money for her. "Folding stuff I hope," she said. "Sorry, I replied. "Just half a Euro in total...."

 Tonight we are hosting a dinner for our neighbours. They hosted us a while back so now it's our turn. They run an upmarket art gallery - they are always smiling probably because the art market has taken off. He is a wine buff - I have no idea so just bought the most expensive bottle I could find at Tesco's and hope for the best!

 There won't be an update tomorrow (Wednesday) but I'll be back on Thursday. In the morning there is some stuff to do with my mum and in the afternoon there's a meeting to go to. Sorry!!

 My mum is sadly still very poorly and has a lot of trouble with pain in her feet. It's quite horrible to see her going through this. I haven't written much about her recently because I suppose it's pretty personal.

 But it is constantly on my mind and I wish I could do something to make things better. But she is half paralysed now and in need of a lot of care. She was so independent too.

 I suppose selfishly too I know it might happen to me one day. I think personally I'd rather someone chucked me in the river when it got to a stage where I didn't enjoy anything anymore.

 Right moving on to more pleasant matters.  Back to the cruise and the first night was just great. Amazing food and there were about 12 of us around the table having a laugh.

Markets

Monday 21st May

  A lovely few days away.. and it's a bit weird getting back! I still feel a bit dizzy from the ship and things seem to be moving round. Or have I just had a glass of wine too many?

 Where's my butler? I can't cope without him. Bring me tea and toast my good man. Oh bugger he isn't here anymore and I'll just have to make it myself.

 It was a bit difficult leaving Christopher behind on Monday morning but we knew we were leaving him in the good hands of his grandmother and grandfather.

 We grabbed a mini cab to Heathrow - a really good driver who knew his way around the queues in a lovely car and he was nice too. I doubled his fare of £25 by giving him a £25 tip.

 He looked at me as if I was crazy and disappeared pretty fast with the £50 note in case I changed my mind! But he really did deserve it!

 The plane flew into Nice with just a spot of turbulence (mainly caused by BA's hideous "egg and bacon roll") At Nice we were herded onto a coach to take the short trip down to the six star Cruise ship "The Silver Whisper".

 What an amazing welcome. There are something like 380 passengers and 290 crew so it's nearly one to one! You're treated like royalty - staff are lined up with amazing canapes, champagne and hot towels.

 Then to the suite - well you may have seen the picture. Amazing! Enormous with its own terrace. Vintage bottles of wine and champagne. Boxes of chocolates, fruit and flowers everywhere!

 Oh, then the butler arrived in full black tie gear. Yes, the butler. Not Jeeves but Joy. Anything you want, anytime. Starting off with more fancy canapes. The suite had a massive plasma Tv screen with DVD library, two bathrooms and a bar. And its own jacuzzi.

 And it was all free courtesy of Telecom Plus - a free trip for 300 or so of its distributors like me who'd done well for them. No tips expected either.

 In the evening we joined others at one of the tables in the restaurant serving - of course - gourmet food. I knew the company would be good.

 After all everyone there has an interesting tale to tell. They are all people who have either quit the rat race already to run their own businesses, or are working hard to get out of whatever lousy office job they are in.

 More on the trip on the site all week including events following on from the captain's announcement: "Ladies and Gentlemen, there will be a bit of a sea swell tonight..." And on that cliffhanger...(more tomorrow)

Markets

 A few trades to report as I've been away - some made before my hols and some after. I didn't trade from the boat. May 10th I bought 5,000 more Dmatek (DTK) at 164.95p to add to my current holding. These I bought with a long-term view of at least a year. Target 245 stop 130.

 May 11th: I bought 700 shares in John David Group (JD.) at 573p. I bought mainly because they are in a fine uptrend with plenty of good volume. Target 650 stop 533.

 May 17th: I bought 2,000 shares in Wellstream (WSM) at 390.5p. Easy reason for this one - one of my favourite sectors (oil services) - it's a new main market issue that will go straight into the FTSE 250.

 Quite simply I am simply following history that Sondex and Hunting in the same sector went a lot higher and I am hoping for the same here. A definite long-term view on these and wouldn't be surprised if I was still holding in two years' time.

 May 18th: It was hard to weigh up Vega's trading statement. They will miss targets slightly but there is plenty positive too. Normally I sell the lot on even a slight question mark and this seemed slight. So in the end I sold half at 270.3p and kept the rest. For site purposes I'll call it the 286 position sealing a loss of £362. 

 My patience with Domestic and General has paid off well - Homebuy says today it is interested in bidding though there is no firm deal and it could fall through. Shares are up massively and I'll stick with it on the basis there looks a good chance the deal will happen.

 Elsewhere plenty of healthy rises especially in oil services where Sondex and Hunting have both had brilliant weeks and patience is paying off with bot of those too.

 My recent Investment trust purchase Montanaro goes well. Boot H did a stock split today so though ADVFN shows it down 70% it is in reality up a bit! All holders basically get bonus shares.

 Some of my portfolio is breaking out very nicely especially McBride. Foseco looks strong as do Keller and Morgan Sindall. Think I'll go on holiday more often!

Wednesday 9th May

  So afraid this is the last update for a while.. until in fact Monday May 21st. This is because I'm off on the luxury paid for cruise with 120 others.

 I really need the break from routine and definitely the site! Much as I love you all I need a rest and a good holiday!  Toddler Christopher is being looked after by Elizabeth's mum and we will really miss him - but it's not for long and we'll talk to him on the phone every day.

 If you're mailing me I will catch the mail from time to time and try and clear the mailbox before I leave on Monday - otherwise I'll mail you back when I get back at the weekend.

 And want to know the suite we have on the ship, the Silver Whisper? ok, it's the Grand Suite (http://www.silverseaships.com/sssw_grand.html). Now don't be jealous. I sold loads of mobile phones in the past to get this so I deserve it but check out the amenities provided!

 "Butler service". Goodness me. Does that mean I'm going to have someone akin to "Jeeves" following me about agreeing with everything I say?

 Like the sound of champagne "replenished whenever". I wonder what the "special chocolate welcome" will entail? A huge pile of chunky kit kats, mint aero bars and flakes for me to dive into?

 My favourite has to be "choice of pillow".. Well, er, I'll have the white one please butler. And does the valet dress me? "Dear boy, I'll wear the jeans and T-shirt combo today...." Dinner at the officer's table sounds a bit scary. Do we have to salute?

 We fly to Nice and the boat takes us to Monte Carlo (where I hope to break the bank in which case this is the last update ever) and then Rome. Also got to take part in the poker competition.

 I have a feeling judging by the size of the suite that we'll be holding a bit of a party in there one evening if the champage is going to be replenished at will... think the butler will join in?

 "Jeeves, please see to it that Madames Beyonce, Britney Spears and The Pussycat Dolls are placed in the CD player and the play button is pressed (as well as my trousers)."

 Yes, I can see the merriment now as our fellow cruisers dance merrily as the refrain "Doncha wish your girlfriend was hot like me..." spill out onto the waters of Monte Carlo.

 Or maybe we'll just have an early night....I'll be back with tons of gossip from the cruise Monday next. It's all a bit of a mystery and very exciting!.

Markets

 Tricky time I feel! Personally I'm cautious about buying anything and I feel a bit wary with the markets having done so well this year.

 But I'm also wary of shorting given the amount of M and A activity going on and being stuck in a short position the day a bid is announced. So in other words to be honest I'm not sure where it's all going!

 So I'm just in the process of top slicing a few positions, reducing one or two and taking the odd profit too and this is also to do with going on holiday and not being able to trade for probably at least 3-4 days. I'd like to keep some cash on the sidelines for a bit too.

 As I say in my book I try not to fall in love with shares and I think Hill and Smith is a lovely company but I had a look at it today - it's had a great run and I decided to take my profits this morning and sold my 2,000 shares bought in March at 312 for 353.25p - that banks a profit of £825.

 I also sold some of my Alterian holding, top slicing at 177.3p - for the website I'll close the 135 position (still holding the other one) for a profit of £1,269. I still like the company but for now it seems right to take a few profits off the table.

 I took losses in Dev Sec at 595 as they were approaching my SL for a loss of £251. Not going to argue with the market on this one.

 I top sliced some Scott Wilson for the site at 342p. An ahead of expectations trading statement sees the shares gain but again I feel it's worth banking some of my profits.

 So I've closed the 306.36 and the 225 site positions for a total profit of £499 and £2,340 respectively. The others are kept open. Total profits for the site today is £4,682.

 Elsewhere a good statement from Fenner - I get frustrated with these but will continue to hold for now. Vitec has been disappointing but it has just gone ex dividend for quite a bit. Boot H has gone ex dividend today so it remains steady given the big payout.

 Been toying with taking Spectris profits but just decided against for now. Vanco's been holding up well against the shorters and awaiting a statement from Trifast.

Tuesday 8th May

  Last night I was hopeful.. I was in my office and could see the Mrs watching a show called "Obedient Wives". Well, this could be the start of a great new era, I thought.

 Sadly she just tutted and only watched it for ten minutes. I thought about suggesting she watched the whole thing and perhaps put into practice some of the suggestions made by the obedient wives. I didn't. She'd only have disobeyed me.

 Bank holiday weekends in May are great, space and time to do things and think... and plenty of time to play with my toddler Christopher who is really enjoying the selection of Thomas the Tank Engine books mailed to me by a reader (thanks once again!)

 He knows all the names of the different engines now, better than me! I took him to the park on Saturday evening. He spent a lot of time shouting at another toddler: "Bob The Builder! Can He fix it? Yes he can!"

 An excellent meal out Sunday night with some friends at a great French restaurant. Learned some interesting things about a certain market "shorter" which I would love to share but I can't!

 With a toddler there's nothing more exciting than getting out in the evening for a long relaxed meal. It was a very good restaurant - I had some lovely lamb and best of all chocolate fondant for pudding...

 I'm sure it makes you as mad as me to se the anguish caused by the abduction of the little girl in Portugal. How could anyone take a child away from their parents is beyond me? What sort of person/people could do a thing like that?

 It's just pure evil. I and I'm sure you all hope the girl is found alive and something very nasty happens to whoever took her.

 Not surprised John Reid resigned. Couldn't quite imagine him and Brown hitting it off in the cabinet room. Good move by him really, shame more politicians don't go when their time is up.

 Astronomer Patrick Moore said today: "The trouble is the BBC now is run by women and it shows soap operas, cooking, quizzes, kitchen-sink plays. You wouldn't have had that in the golden days."

 I would like to see two independent wavelengths - one controlled by women, and one for us, controlled by men." I thought we had that already Patrick - the one controlled by men is Sky Sports isn't it?

Markets

 A grumpy start to the week by the markets. Interest rates are due to go up this week, the weather's rotten and traders wish they were still on holiday. Oh yes, and it's this time last year the market fell away. I like to make you all feel happy.

 Personally, I'm going to be very careful about buying anything new for right now. And I'm looking at a few shorts. However a lot of speculation in the papers and on TV today about Morrisons (MRW) being the next supermarket bid target. I'm not really so sure Ken will sell up - but you never know.

 So I've tentatively bought a few Morrisons on a spreadbet this morning for £20 at 339. Target 420 stop 300. Trouble with these bid situations is the moment they get ruled out shares involved tend to go down. But there seems to be a lot of smoke about regarding this company so I'll hop on board for now and see what happens.

 Boot H goes ex dividend for a whopping near 17p tomorrow - so the shares should open 15-20p lower in the morning. There's bound to be some selling because some shareholders will think their shares are tanking rather than just going ex. Amazing how that always happens, I always know my ex dividend dates!

 Shareholders like me will shortly get 4 extra shares for every one held which means the pricing of the shares will be in the 300-400 area rather than 12-1300 - this should increase liquidity and make the spread much tighter which it could really do with.

 Always good on days like this when you have shares in your portfolio going up or staying steady. So on days like this very happy to hold shares like Marchpole, Hill and Smith, etc.

 Nothing of mine really been knocked that badly - Alterian and Carclo have come back a bit but not enough to ruffle my feathers just yet. Waterman's down a touch too but again for now I'm not worried.

 I even have a few with a touch of blue! Step forward Diploma, Harvey Nash, VP, Montanaro and Keller. Interesting to see Keller rise on a day like this. The 1000 level continues to be a tough one to break though.

 A big buyer of one of my recent purchases today - 46,000 shares bought in Vega which gives me hope. Trifast has seen a lot of buying and I hope it'll edge through 90p soon.

Friday 4th May

  Hurrah!!! A bank holiday weekend. If you think there's going to be an update on Monday think again! I'll be back on Tuesday. However I won't be back for long I'm afraid as I'm off on holiday next Monday. But the main thing is it's going to be lovely weather so shut down your computers, your charting systems and all that rubbish, get out there and enjoy yourselves. We should all make the most of beautiful days. Looking forwards to having fun in the park with my toddler Christopher.

 His usual thing is to make a dash for the mini fountains and get wet through. Then preferably hurl himself into the sand pit... Quite enjoy doing that myself too!!

 Thanks so much to reader Keith who has just sent me a whole boxful of Thomas The Tank Engine books for Christopher.
Keith thank you so much!

 He is going to go crazy when he gets back from nursery today because he loves those books... I am bowled over by your generosity and it was a lovely surprise..

 Fancy a bank holiday weekend share trading horror story? It is from someone who's an excellent trader now by the way - so it does have a happy ending.

 "In 1998 I sold a large house in Tipperary and was intending to buy another - closure three months later. It was at the time of the Ryanair float and rather than put the money on deposit, I thought I'd invest in that.

 A delayed flight had me receiving the money a day later than expected. That day Powerscreen (the best run/most successful Irish company at the time) dived on bad news. Everyone said it had been way oversold.

 Guardian Royal had just paid 630 for 5 million shares. They hit 220. I asked around, everyone agreed that in 6 weeks they'd be back to where they were. I put all the proceeds into it.

 Massive fraud discovered (CEO/CFO/CTO involved). They were sold for pennies. I lost the value of a very nice Georgian house. Lesson: don't believe recovery stories in the middle of disaster."

There! Does that make you feel better if you lost a few quid on something recently?

Markets

  A surprisingly good day for me. I was expecting it to be a quiet pre bank holiday market but it's been really strong. Of course as the markets rise I expect to get a bit more cautious and today I have just held on to what I already have.

 Obviously some good rises for my portfolio today given the strength of stocks. Alterian is probably the best mover of the day for me and that races higher. Slough Estates where I'm hoping for a bid is on the way up too.

 Vanco's statement has really sent the shares flying and I'm glad I topped up when the shorters were spreading nonsense about the shares. Now up nearly 20%.

 Bit of a treeshake in Marchpole today which I just ignored. Keller heads back up to the 1000 level. Trifast at last is bombing along and repaying the patience I have had in holding it, some very decent buying coming in and hoping for good results.

 Morgan Sindall is breaking up well along with Tribal. BH Macro sees steady buying and good old McBride is heading back up to 250 level. Montanaro is starting to rise again. Disappointing to see Boot's spread widening but that should be put right after the bonus issue.

 Vega has stalled just before getting to 300p as shares often do near a whole number. I'm hoping it'll motor again and crash through!

 So a good end to a cracking week which wasn't really expected. Being May and with indicies at highs I was expecting a downturn.

 As I'm away on holiday the week after next for a week without being able to trade I may be forced into taking a few profits to be on the safe side. But I'll decide on that when the time comes!

Thursday 3rd May

  Great entertainment last night from The Apprentice. Which is what it is now - just an entertainment show! The prize isn't worth having and the contestants and Sir A just want to show off on the telly. Which is fine.

 You have to sell British food to the French. Not an easy task but to end up in Macro buying cheddar cheese must be the worst idea possible. But very funny.

 And when Kristina (looks a likely winner) dropped her trump card about Bomber Paul having a bit of a thing with Kate - that was a classic.

 He really has got no business sense at all and was rightly fired. But really none of them have any business sense which bizarrely makes the whole thing so watchable. Great fun!

Markets

 A new buy to report that is likely to do well this year. The company concerned is Vega (VEG) and some tea and toast cost me a few points here yesterday lunchtime.

 I was waiting for a bit of volume movement before buying this one and noticed it was up 1p so that got me interested. But I went off for a tea and toast break and nearly choked when I returned - it was up 7p!

 However though it's not always wise to chase shares I picked up 1,500 at 285p and 2,300 at 286p yesterday. Target 350 stop 255. The price went up sharply this morning but it's come back and I'm tempted to buy a few more.

 This one is taking off if you look at the chart. Although one or two of its markets aren't doing that great it is its aerospace market that interests me and it's recently won a £19m contract with Thales.

 While it has its risks with figures a bit lower last time and it has gone up a bit I think there is enough possible reward here to justify a buy. Anyway I've bought it now so there. It's just one of those that could rocket. I guess 300p will be a barrier but it could do nicely from there given no nasties.

 Stating the bleedin obvious the higher the market goes the more careful you have to be and I'm thinking of some profit taking quite soon.

 Anyhow for the moment another good day - my buy of Vanco looks good now with the company today announcing another contract win and confirmation free cash flow is coming - this is in response to a concerted attack by shorters who are losing money heavily. Once they close out the shares will carry on rising.

 Shares Mag wrote a terrible piece claiming it as a sell simply lifting what the shorters were saying without giving the other side of the argument.

 Charter rises again very nicely and could break up even further. Recent buys Boot H and Spectris continue to do very nicely indeed. Hunting is blasting higher today, wish I'd bought some on the low.

 Marchpole carries on its wonderful run, can it press through 200p? Trifast looks interesting, some good buying has been coming in and it really should be trading up near 100p.

 I've been patient with VP and that could be about to pay off as it is quietly advancing at the moment, some interesting buying is going on..

Wednesday 2nd May

  OK, the second day of May and the market it ok so far.... crossed fingers eh? Forgot it's a bank holiday next Monday. Well, enjoy it won't you.  My toddler is now leading us in what only can be described as pre-bed aerobics. We have to chase him round the apartment and follow what he does which includes fast running and sudden sitting down. Who needs the gym?

 Been doing some lovely morning runs around The Thames. Up Hammersmith Bridge and back over Putney Bridge. Listening to my crappy £2.99 radio while the I-Pod languishes in a drawer.

Markets

 There's a lovely-looking investment trust I bought this morning - in fact it came second in the vote for the best share of the day.

 Investment Trusts basically buy and sell shares like we do - and you can buy and sell them like ordinary shares and they go up and down in line with the value of the shares inside the trust.

 This trust basically seems brilliantly run and just keeps on going up - have a look at the chart! It is the Montanaro European Small Companies trust (MTE) - I bought 1,000 shares today at 437.67p. Target 490 stop 395.

 The Trust invests in shares in smaller European companies (stating the bleedin' obvious) - their top ten holdings include a couple of very successful investments in companies in Austria.

 They publish their net asset value every day which just keeps going up! Their top holdings include some very successful investments. The managers here look really sharp and looks worth backing for more gains.

 Buys Boot H and Spectris both going very well indeed - in fact Spectris is now up more than 60 points since I bought a spreadbet live on the day.

 If Spectris can get over 1000, there could be some more substantial gains in store. Boot H has done well to get over the 1300p mark.

 And once the bonus share issue is done and dusted there should be a lot more value here and I am a happy holder. Thanks to all of you who came for voting for it!

 Well, what can I say about Marchpole except I wish I hadn't taken some profits a while back. I've more than trebled my money on this one and it's flying again today.

 Still not tempted to take profits as it looks like there is plenty more upside. Looks like the City is at last being won over after being sniffy over MPH during its troubles a while back.

 Looks like well-known shorter Simon Cawkwell's attempt to bring down Vanco's price by slagging it off on pretty much every website and bulletin board there is, isn't really working.

 It all looks a bit desperate to me. I reckon he's losing a packet from shorting it at much lower prices than now. Actually I rather like him, we could do with a few more characters in the market and I love his hate of authority and completely agree with him on that.

 But I don't agree with him on Vanco! If it rises much more followers will be closing out which should push the price up to the 480 level again.

 BH Macro continues to rise, what a great buy that has been. Some very nice looking big buyers in Trifast yesterday which bodes well for good results.

 While being a Trifast shareholder has been a bit like watching paint dry these trades could be the start of a nice pre-results run up. I'd be tempted to buy more if I didn't already have quite a lot!

 Charter is still cracking and Tribal continues higher. Glad I bought back into Carclo at 110 yesterday! It's leaping higher as I write up to about the 120p level. Maybe I should have just topped up and not taken profits too!

 Looks as if some decent buying coming into CAR and the shares may race higher. Galliford Try is putting on a bit of a spurt today.

 Telecom Plus is heading higher again in the run up to results. Vislink looks like it may almost be time to buy some back as it has strong support in the low 80s. Keller is doing its best still to crack that 1000!

Tuesday 1st May

  So that's it. Tony's going to announce his departure date next week. Expect he's probably looking forward to making his millions on the lecture circuit.

 I can see him in 10 year's time doing the rounds of the cruise ships - getting free holidays in return for a talk. Sure Cherie will talk him into it!

 That woman Kate Moss sure is a brilliant marketer! Her new range of clothes has been all over the TV and radio - she put in an appearance of a few seconds and has probably generated millions of pounds worth of sales.

 Well in a way good for her! She really has shown how to do it. No need for lots of expensive ads. Just get some press coverage. Always works!

Markets

 May is here which is making investors (rightly) a bit wary. Many were caught out last year when the market sank for about 6 weeks. Last year I halved spreadbet positions let it sink and then bought some shares near the bottom so I did ok out of it.

 As I said to an e-mailer today I think a "crash" is more likely if we hit 6800 than if we head lower now. Some people warn of a big crash to come. They could be right but I just don't know and still feel able to trade as it happens. However I do think it wise to have some cash and not be too leveraged either.

 Anyway considering the market is feeling a bit sorry for itself I'm not doing badly! I topped up again in share "winner" Boot H (BHY) and bought 500 more shares at 1295. Looks like market maker Evo has been holding it back for whatever reason but I reckon they may have to give way soon and it'll go higher.

 Will be brilliant when the consolidation is done and it's at the 300p area, should see more action and this looks a goodie to hold during any market turbulence.

 Carclo (CAR) was an interesting mover this morning. It's been a bit weak recently and I could see level 2 calling it a short-term sell. Tricky to decide whether there was real selling or whether it was just a shake. So I decided to do what I don't usually do for a change and try and play it and sold half at 114p waiting to try and buy some back a little lower. For website purposes we'll call it closing out the positions at 115.9 (loss £95 ) and at 90.76 (profit £866) to bank a total profit of £771.

 And my plan worked. Well, not to a really fantastic degree but worked a bit! I bought back 4,000 CAR shares near the bottom of the drop at 110p. Target 130 stop 95. Plenty of potential in the company though which is why I bought some back rather than just simply taking half profits.

 I topsliced a little Alterian at 184. There seemed to be a seller at 186 - for web purposes we'll call it closing the 177 position for a profit of £125. I still keep the main bulk of my Alterian and I'd be topping up again if there was any real weakness. Looks just for now as if the market-makers have a few shares.

 Elsewhere an excellent day considering the market is weak. Boot H is going well waiting to break the 1300 barrier. Looks like one of the market-makers is trying to hold it back which could be good news.

 Spectris is doing spectacularly well - up more than 40 points since a few days ago. If it can crack 1000 in a weak market it will look even better! Yesterday's buy Slough Estates is still motoring up and still looks a likely bid target.

 Charter continues to run away upwards and still running my winnings, more than 300 points up on that one now as well as plenty of profits taken on it in the past.

 Marchpole continues to strengthen every day though at some point looking forwards to taking my £10,000 plus profits!
Waterman's been sitting nicely above 200 for a while and consolidating at higher levels. Should move again soon.

 Tribal consolidates well at a higher price, a bit more there I think and Keller still tries hard to beat the 1000. And good old BH Macro continues to look a superb buy as it carries on rising every day.

 Another top up in a quality but risky oil play in my high risk sipp. More details on that today to those who subscribe to the daily lunchtime e-mail.

Monday 30th April

  The environment, the environment, something the Government loves to hide behind especially when it comes to taxing us more..But did you know these so called environmentally friendly new biofuels are anything but?

 Whole swathes of rainforests are being bulldozed to plant palm oil trees which are disturbing nature's balance and causing a whole host of new problems?

 These trees drink 12 litres of water each per day and rivers are beginning to empty. Rainforest dwellers and animals are being forced out of their natural habitat. All backed by our government.

 Well, at least it's the end of Tony Blair. How lovely will it be not to put up with him anymore. A shame really - he genuinely seemed to want to put the world to rights in 1997 but he became a slave to spin and the ten years has been nothing but style and no substance.

 We've been robbed of our money for much poorer services. The money's been spent in the wrong areas and on the wrong people. He was lucky to inherit a good economy.

Markets

 Goodness me a lot to get through. First one of the winners was Boot H (BHY) and I bought 400 shares live just before the close of the day at 1288.9. Target 1395 stop 1150.

 Plenty of positives on this one as I said there. One of the main positives is a stock split is about to happen so the share price will be re-listed at around 300p rather than 1300. Which is good news and should bring new liquidity. Fund managers and Pi's don't really like buying tenner plus shares and this move will really help.

 This one also has a good chance of getting into the FTSE250 later this year. It's a good solid company that should also do OK if May falls are round the corner.

 It has a number of different income streams and over time I expect the shares to be a big winner. They are never the sort to double in a week but should be the bedrock of any decent portfolio. I think there is at least 20% available here and sleep at night too.

 Spectris (SXS) was also on my shortlist. Though it didn't attract many votes from delegates looking at level 2 live on it I liked the look of it very much and bought that one live on the day too as a spreadbet this time (demonstrating a spreadbet buy) and bought for a tenner at 936p. Target 1050 stop 880.

 As I said on the day a lovely looking FTSE250 stock which looks cheap despite recent rises and one to hold tight. It's got a brilliant business model and is also buying back its own shares which will keep propping up the price and means very little downside too. Looks a winner! Certainly glad I bought live on the day as it's up 33p today already!

 This morning I also bought Slough Estates (SLOU) for £10 at 768. My reason for this one is quite simple. I think it'll be taken over this year - bookies only offering 3/1 on a takeover. This would be a great fit with any number of property companies.

 There's been some interesting volume recently and I think this one could be taken over at about the 950 mark. Well, I guess we'll see if I'm right in the weeks ahead! Target 950 stop 720.

 I sold Walker this morning at 390.1p to take a loss of £24. (Shan't have sleepless nights about that!). Just complete boredom there! I was in as a bid possible but now I'd wait until there was some decent buying volume.

 Finally on Thursday I bought Tribal (TRB) - 4000 shares at 145.82. Target 195 stop 120. A great-looking turnaround story this one - I was put off by the debt but an announcement last week changes all that with a disposal paying off a good deal of it. Like the story here and expect to hold medium-term.

 April has really been sensational and here's hoping nasty May won't spoil things! Charter's been my biggest winner - it went up more than 40p points on Friday and another 10p today and while tempting to take profits the upswing looks strong and there may be more here.

 Marchpole continues to climb bigtime and up more than £10,000 on this one, so very nice! Another contract win announced last week and the shares are in much demand. My original purchase at 13p in old money looking exceptionally good.

 Keller is having another go at closing above 1000p. As I keep saying this one could easily go up 200 points. My top up in Domestic and General looks well timed as good buying volume comes in as results beckon. They should be top end.

 Diploma is having a great run and nears 1000. Vanco is picking up, a buy in the Chronicle which like me dismisses the claims of some desperate shorters who have been trying to spread muck on it on various websites.

 They must have lost quite a lot and the muck raking hasn't really worked especially as a lot of the shorting was done at much lower prices. They will get bored soon and the price should resume its upward trend.

 I've spotted a very decent looking AIM share for inclusion in my high risk pension plan (SIPP). More news on what that is to those who subscribe to the lunchtime e-mail.

Wednesday 25th April

  Fancy a laugh - click on google and then "Maps". In the search type in "London to New York". Have a look at the directions which take you nearly, er 29 days to get there.. and the real laugh is how googlemaps expect you to get over the Atlantic Ocean - see direction number 37!! The whole thing is hilarious and it's for real!

 This is the last update till Monday...

 Fantastic to see local rebellions are causing councils to backtrack on only collecting the rubbish once every two weeks.
At last people are starting to take action. Once a week must be a minimum. Seems to be governments and councils continue to take the piss out of us offering us less for more.

Well done to Man Utd for their super win last night. Makes up a bit for our terrible cricket team.

 Tony Blair looked a bit tired at question time today. He really should have quit last year but I guess he wants to make it ten years. Have you noticed Gordon Brown seems to have completely disappeared?

 I expect it's nothing to do with the fact Labour is going to get a whacking at the local elections and he's staying out of the way?

 Ma Bouna writes: I am from China and have an interest in stock trading. Fortunately, my situation can meet the requirement of being a stock trader. It is in front part of
your book. Till now I have no shares on my hand. I decide to buy some, but Shanghai stock market is hot. The index increased 1000 point in the past several months. And I do not want to be the last fool.

 So I would like to wait for a moment and do some home work. But when I heard some one making much money in the market, it made me....you know that feeling, it is complicated.

 And in Chinese stock market, the situation is complicated. The stock market is not like your European countries or USA. It has some local features. Some company like TCL group, profit warning one after another, but stock price increased day after day, sometime it dropped a little, then it came back soon. I can not find the reason. I am confused at all. Do you have any suggestion about that?

 Hallo and good to hear from you in China! It is difficult for me to have much to say because your stock market is so different. normally in the UK a share would fall after a profits warning.

 However it might start to rise because the market thought it was sold off too much or because it was so weak it might become a bid target and another company might buy it - of course I don't know anything about the company you speak of.

 The best thing to do if you think you may be buying at the top of the market is set a stop loss as suggested in my book so if worst comes to worst you won't lose too much.

 Please stay in touch and let me know how you get on.

 David writes: I have been investing for four years now with mixed success and am now showing a slight loss, the thing that keeps catching me out is buying on historical financial data and then having the company release a profits warning out the blue.

 In your opinion, do profits warning always happen in threes? Is there any way of pre-empting such a warning and if so do you always enforce your positions with stringent stop losses?

 Feel a bit at mercy of the company press announcements.....

 Hi David. I'm afraid there won't be an investor in the country that hasn't been hit by a profits warning. It does just happen out of the blue. It's happened to me a few times over the years. Rather than fret about it the best thing to do is just get out fast, take the stock off your monitor.

 Otherwise you just spend time poring over why you didn't see it coming. There is no foolproof system to avoid being in shares that issue warnings. Several times recently companies have issued warnings just a couple of weeks after saying everything was fine and even after directors had just bought!

 Steve writes: Interesting, no hairdressers for 10 years, I calculate [going every six weeks] you have saved the best part of a grand. Is their no end to your talents for making money work for you!

Yes, Steve, that's why I shaved it off in the first place - I am that tight!!

Markets

 You know I keep on banging on about this - you bought a really great share and you see it keeps going but but you can't bring yourself to buy anymore at a higher price cos you wish you'd bought a load more at the lower price...

 You have to get over the emotion and I always manage it! So I bought more Waterman today (WTM) - a further 2,000 shares at 205p to add to the previous purchases at 185 and 191. Target 280 stop 180.

 I've gone on about this one before but I really like it. One of the reasons I bought more today was the nice little rise to confirm it's gone above 200p and also the big buys (for this share) made this morning of nearly 100,000 shares in two lots.

 It has good growth prospects both organically and by acquisition and has good-looking rising profits and dividends. It also has potential a a bid target and there is very little downside and no chance of a sudden profits warning! It's buying Boreham which looks a good fit and more and more interest is coming in here. There's also a chance of promotion into the smallcap index later this year or early next if the price keeps going up.

 And it also has a beautiful looking rising trend chart. So I really don't mind buying at a bit higher. It's never one of those that will suddenly rise 20p in a day (unless there's a bid) but it's a good solid tuckaway that should hold up if the market has a horrid summer.

 Some excellent risers for the portfolio today - star award this time round to Diploma up 20p - I'm up more than £2k on the buy and should it get over 1000 further rises are likely.

 Recent top up Domestic and General is enjoying a good bounce and further rises could be seen if it can top the 1100 level again - results in 4 weeks which I think will be good and put a light under the price.

 Some really good breakouts today - Charter goes extremely well and gets ever closer to breaking the 1000p level, been a great share.

 Keller too yet again tries to get above 1000 - a big rise in store if it can do it convincingly. Mouchel Parkman tops 450 again and looks a must have in any portfolio.

 Telecom Plus looks very strong as it heads towards results. Nearly doubled my money on that one. And one of my unsung heroes, Scott Wilson is really motoring now and up more than 100 points on my first buys in that stock.

 So some very good across the board rises today with the portfolio continuing to rise very nicely indeed..I'll be back with more market news on Monday.

Tuesday 24th April

   It's quite bizarre getting e-mails from China but quite nice too. The book is strangely selling well over there. And I don't know anything about Chinese markets! But I guess in the future they are going to be big...

 The e-mailers have such brilliant English - some of them seem interested in the London market. I wonder whether that will become a really big thing, Chinese traders working the UK and US markets?

 I've had one which I'll publish tomorrow from a Chinese chap who is struggling with a profits warning from a Chinese company.

 I think it might well be interesting to have a blog of a Chinese investor to give us all an idea of how similar or not their market is to ours.

 Really looking forwards to some holidays this year. So far lined up: in May a free three day cruise courtesy of Telecom Plus - we fly to Nice and then onto a 6 star boat, plus tours of Rome and plenty of bingo and Poker!

 In June we're off to Devon with Christopher and my older sister to stay in a lovely country cottage. And early September we're going to a luxury resort in Portugal which is especially good at catering for two year olds full of energy!

 Kev writes: I have just read today's update and there is no mention of trifast my most boring buy ever!. Due to your hectic day did you miss the trading statement and do you still stand by your targets. I thought the first news in four months would have brought in buyers but no...

 Hi Kev.. Thing is I have a lot of patience and stick with ones I think will come good even if they don't move for a while. But really surely if you are bored with it and want excitement, sell it and move into something else!

Markets

 A bit down today although nothing to worry about re my lot for the moment. I bought a few more Domestic and General (DGG) yesterday afternoon to add to my current holding on the basis that it looks very cheap and came down to what looks like a good support area. It looks like it has been way oversold for no reason.

 I bought 500 shares at 1065.85p. Target 1250 stop 950. Results are due in 4 weeks and judging by the recent trading statement there shouldn't be any nasty surprises.

 This is the company that supplies extended warranties for TVs and electrical equipment, etc. Claims for repairs are very low so the company makes a good profit.

 It's gradually extending into other countries and has just launched into Australia. Unless there is something I don't know about I really can't see why it shouldn't be rated higher and the recent falls I think give me the chance to buy at what I hope will come to be seen as a good price.

 It's tricky to buy and sell because the price can move 20p-30p on a few tiny order book orders so it's a little irritating to get good entry/exit but value will come out and I think it might start to rise as we get near to results day on May 24th.

 I took a loss on Latchways - it's a great company but sentiment is against it for now and sold at 1035 yesterday afternoon for a loss of £515 on the 1140 position and £508 on the 1150. Not so bad because I also picked up a dividend of nearly 40p too! One I'll watch and look to buy back into at the right time.

 After holding my remaining Dragon Oil for some time even a good trading statement can't seem to shift them! On that basis for the moment I think it's time to take what are very good profits.

 Profits on my sale at 174 today give profits of £640 on the 158 position and a massive £3,215 on the 109 to yield total profits of £3,855.

 I think Dragon could end up as a bid target in the autumn or next year and I'd be interested in buying back on good volume.

 The portfolio holds up well in a down market and star of the day is Development Securities up very strongly indeed - could there be good news on the way?

 Recent top up Alterian still sees very good buying coming in - as I said it's bound to stall a bit as it gets towards 200p but I think market makers are short here and I'll ignore any treeshakes down and hold firmly. A long way to go yet.

 Mouchel Parkman is going great guns today as is Dyson. Keller and Morgan Sindall look strong on a down day. A few down but only by a touch so nothing much to worry about for right now...