ScoobLou

iTrader: (21)

Awww poor DCI

DCI Gene Hunt

............. Ooops, I mean...... *sniffs*

Deep Singh

DCI I know you think that I/we are a bunch of dreamer geeks but thats a little off the mark. I've been wanting to increase my weighting in shares for some time. Nothing wrong with that, its a very sensible way of investing in the future. The reason for the 'virtual' share club is to try and pool the thinking power of a group of individuals for better results. I'll also learn something from those who know more than me.
If the virtual portfolio looks like its doing well then I'll replicate it for real with some hard earned.

Its not the worst way in the world to spend a couple of hours a week

DCI Gene Hunt

Dude! mean't no offense..........

And dependant on the mechanics of the club I will probably invest real cash in a mirror of your virtual stock transactions..... so please don't think I'm REALLY rubbishing it at all........ infact I'm hoping you (and ultimately we) do rather well.....

NorthDave

I would be interested although I know **** all.

The Motley Fool (www.fool.co.uk) used to have a virtual dealing tool where you could practice. Should be easier than using an excel spreadsheet.

Deep Singh

No offence taken!

Deep Singh

Welcome on board. That makes nine, we'll stop at ten then.

ScoobLou

iTrader: (21)

You have your 10 then with DCI

2000TLondon

Wednesday it is........

SD

I'd love to be the tenth. Still paper trading me, with varying levels of commitment and success. Sounds like a great idea.

Simon

Deep Singh

ok thats the 10. 11 if gene wants in.

See ya on Wednesday!

Alas

I'll be there on Wednesday

2000TLondon

reasonable piece of free kit

www.bigcharts.com

The share I'm looking at currently for a longish trade is

Shell

RDSB.L

http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/qui...symb=uk%3Ardsb

although I shall be waiting for a few positive signals before I buy, but this should be in the next few days. I will have something confirmed for Wednesday.

Will we be starting a new thread for Wednesday????

Deep Singh

We'll just use this one. I'm looking at a couple of blue chips aswell. Interesting article in the Sunday Telegraph money section about how the blue chips have fallen out of favour of late and are looking quite cheap compared to FTSE 25O companies despite having healthy balance sheets and dividends.

Deep

King RA

I'm looking at sticking a few quid in BEM (Beowulf mining). An exploration company in Sweden with good prospects. One to buy and put in a draw for your kids.

Alas

Ok - its Wednesday ---------- Just

Trying to decide between 2.
Safe(ish)
Prudential (PRU)with the talk of Axa being interested
or
Risky.
Premier Oil (PMO) had some exploration success recently and waiting for a couple more results. Dropped slightly in the last week.

Cheers
Alas

2000TLondon

I'm going to plump for Shell, RDSB.L, but I'm not going to buy it until it has a positive move.

I am quite keen to get on this, as there is definite strong support at the low 1700's, it's touched 1760 this week, and I think it is unlikely to go much below here. Therefore, I think it is at the bottom of a trough, and we should see a positive trend beginning, with a get out anywhere above 1900, but hopefully between 1950 and 2000. My usual trade here would be a fiver a point, with a stop loss of around 100 points. My buy in point will be at 1800, hopefully.

This should be a low-risk purchase...... famous last words.

Deep Singh

Ok, my one is Rolls Royce. The basis for my pick is quite simplistic but;

1) I understand what they do

2) Their order books are full. In part due to a resurgence in aircraft orders post the slump of 911. I think these will continue to grow as India/China/Russia need new aircraft(hence engines) to service their internal flights.

3) Their business has another face, ie maintenance contracts for all their engines. This produces billions even if engine sales suddenly decline.

4) Not that expensive. Sector average is about 24 and RR is 22 despite having a far healthier balance sheet than most.

Its a long term punt, and there are no buy signals at present but I fancy it in my long term portfolio.

Second one I fancy is GSK. This is mainly because it has a good pipeline ( inc a vaccine for cervical cancer). The pipeline is better than Astrazeneca, yet it sells for a lower PE.

Suresh, it doesn't have to be UK listed. The diversity will be good.

King, can you tell us a little more about your choice?

Alas, has the rumour of m and a activity already been priced in for pru?

2000t, firstly can you explain how one trades 'a fiver a point' and what that means? Sorry to be such a numpty. Also, is Shell a good punt with crude prices sliding?

Thanks all!

2000TLondon

I do all my trades on www.igindex.co.uk rather than buy paper shares. My stake would be five pounds a point, or a penny, so each point or penny it moves up or down, my profit / loss goes five pounds with it. I would use a 100 point stop, so I'd invest 500 pounds. And look to make one hundred points profit in a month or so, so in theory withdrawing 500 pounds profit. Also, as the share is around 18 pounds a share, it would cost me a lot more to buy these paper shares with a view to making 500 pounds relatively quickly.

I don't really make my decisions on news, forecasts etc I base my decisions on "charting" and "technical analysis" so with Shell, which is a share I have traded and watched for about a year, I am confident that it will not go below 1700 (ish) pence a share, as it has touched this point several times, and this is a "support level" which is a level it historically doesn't go below, and where it becomes too low not to buy, in theory!

The problem with trading news is that everyone else is doing it, and generally everyone else would have already traded the news before a normal punter can get on. So really the oil price, Iran and N Korea problems etc don't affect me too much, although obviously I consider that any major catastrophe / conflict would see the support level of 1700 become irrelevant! A good example is that if you look at results dates for companies, if good results are expected, everyone buys them up and the price rises, on results day last year, Shell posted record profits, but the price dropped dramatically, as most people knew or suspected this would be the case, got in the week before, and got out the night before results / news was due. The term is "trade the rumour, not the news" I got caught out several times on this at first!

For a chart example, as far as Rolls Royce goes, I think it looks like a very good LONG TERM buy. I agree with your points made, and if you look at this chart

http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/qui...&freq=1&time=9

you can see that in the last two years, 500 has been the top price for RR.L I believe this share will continue in an upward trend for the time being, but it will probably come down to the mid 400's for a while, before it goes back up to around 500, and then it SHOULD "breakthrough" the 500 price barrier on it's "third attempt", and create a new high above 500. I think this is a good buy, but I would wait a few weeks before I personally bought it.

GSK is a great share, and I think this is also a good buy, although it can be volatile!

Charlie.

Alas

Aviva are now free to make another bid for the Pru as the last one was in March. Rumour is that Axa may attempt to muscle in. Forecast of share going above £7 next week.
Interesting about GSK as they have finally settled with the IRS so this is not now hanging over their heads. Agree it would be an interesting one.

^OPM^

Been looking at chart myself on shell today-does look interesting-specially with a nice cold winter coming up-only one question tho-if u was to buy the actual shares which is best the 'a' or 'b' shares-from what i read on their site-the 'a' pays a divi but u also end up paying dutch withholding tax on it whereas with 'b' u dont pay the dutch tax but u may not get a divi to begin with?
so whats best the 'a' im guessing-can u reclaim the dutch tax tho if u are resident in this country?

SirFozzalot

This all sounds really interesting, would love to get into it but have no idea where to even start, all seems so confusing to a beginner.

warrenm2

Im buying Soco International (SIA.L). Its an oil exploration company with operations in Congo area, Yemen, Thailand and Vietnam. Vietnam results are out in a few weeks and so far it looks promising. Just had good results from Yemen. Merrill Lynch and Bridgewell have them as a STRONG BUY. Depending how you value them, their price doesnt even reach the NAV yet (for those that dont understand - thats considered a sign the price will rise - or something is fundamentally wrong - take your pick)

2000TLondon

Personally I have only traded the "b" so far as they perform independently of each other and "B" has always been the best for me, as I do not have the tax concerns of paper shares.

2000TLondon

Have a look at the links I posted throughout this thread, these will give you some good grounding, and provide you with links to other explanatory websites......

warrenm2

Just saw this quote and thought it was appropriate for you guys.....

"Choosing individual stocks without any idea of what you’re
looking for is like running through a dynamite factory with a
burning match. You may live, but you’re still an idiot."

Alas

Oh well the risk(PMO) was the one to go for as now at £11.80 from £10.10 a week ago. Should have known as It was my brother in law who tipped it and he never loses money
The Pru did nothing.
Take it this is a non-starter though as no-one has followed it up??
Shame.


Just wish I'd put some cash on Premier Oil though.
Alas

warrenm2

PMO is rumoured to be taken over by Shell, thats why it rose

^OPM^

so hows folks shares going-my star so far is lloydstsb- a nice safe one to tuck away and paying a great divi to boot

2000TLondon

RDSB (Shell) passed 1900 today, it was around 1760 when I tipped it, but I did say I wouldn't buy until it passed 1800, so that's 100 points profit in a couple of weeks, took longer than I thought, though!!

Should keep going, but I wouldn't hold it much past 1950...........