The first ASOS Challenge was successful in the sense that it taught us a few lessons on investment timing. Only three of 11 shares ended in profit and that included ASOS itself: congratulations to legend for BNH and bosley for SEO. Back to the drawing board for the rest of us (over the year the portfolio would have thrashed any opposition!).

Participants welcome for the second challenge. Primary objective is to find shares that will double in value by 1st July, beating ASC in the process; secondary to be most successful stock-picker in terms of the value of your 20K portfolio. Rules are:

1.Each participant has 20K which can go into 1,2,3 or 4 shares in units of 5K.
2.ASC has 20K and is team yardstick, not in individual portfolios.
3.Duplication between entrants OK with no upper limit for total for one share.
4.Start weekend of 21st Jan. Buy price half way between closing offer and mid.
5.Latest time of entry to be 8 pm on Sunday, 23rd Jan.
6.Challenge to close Friday, 1st July.
7.Entrants can switch up to a total of 10K; av. of Friday close bid and mid.
8.Progress reports to rank shares by performance but also participants (initial only to protect from the ridicule of outsiders!).

Participants welcome. Just post selection here or on ASC thread.

Eric

Hi mp. That's a lovely insight - hubs in bed early and up by 5.30 a.m.; wifey in bed late at 1.30 a.m. and up by I don't know when; unless you have kids to get to school? Hope the op. goes well; I hope it isn't arthritis. But they are so skilled these days and the technology is so good. From what I have seen of your portfolio, I wouldn't worry too much. Mind you could take a laptop in but that mightn't be good for the nurses pulses! But I would close the spreadbets; I wouldn't be too comfortable with my CFDs and suspect I would close half of them and put the money in the building account.

All the best, Eric

Thanks Eric- children all flown the nest and granddaughter due in June that's why I decided to get the knees fixed! Yes it is arthritis probably from sitting in front of the computer too much!

mp Sympathise but feel that the op will help the agility and give improved quality of life. Snap! grandchild due July although parents don't want to know sex - due on my birthday, 11th July which would be great! KJeep us posted on progress. Eric

As requested EW

The BGT bubble will be on show at the toy fair this week. It is retailing for around 59 as far as I understand. Has had a retracement today due to announcement of a placing... Pretty sure that this will be lapped up and that the price will not be much lower than the bid price of 166.. So will show good support for a share that will have risen over 100% in the last few weeks. I am looking to add alot more as this concept should have a great deal of appeal and is beginning to get the city very excited as the guys who run it are very well respected annd tend to deliver what they promise (so I have been told)
This bubble has no wires and is geared for preschool children. It is an interactive game which only needs the use of a dvd player or playstation or xbox. Children can watch their favorite programmes which range from teletubbies, to thomas the tank. (You name it BGT have the rights to use it) When their favorite character asks them to do something , they can , so the kids feel part of the action. It is also aimed to be educational , teaching the kids through their favorite programmes basic concepts that children need to learn. Think the potential is huge. Know of some kids who trialled it and it was a HUGE success with both them and the parents

Good luck money plus... I know about knees. Have had six operations on them and now need a knee replacement. They won't give me one yet as they said I am too young. My knees are shot from sport and associated accidents:-(
Hard when I have 3 sporty kids and they want to run, play tennis etc with me and i can't! You will feel much better after it but you will have to work HARD at your quad exercises given by the phsio

Will do-we can compare notes. Does your wife get cross at the amount of time you spend on here--my husband does I'm sure his nose is put out as he calls me Geek etc! while waiting for his meal LOL! Anyway I must go out now as my last bid for freedom and I'm supposed to have a hair salon to run...occasionally.

moneyplus.... I am a girl too:-)

Well! What do you know! I thought you were very perceptive, Jules, when it came to pre-educational children's toys! We really are being taken over, fellows. What on earth remains sacrosanct - heaven, you say, oh thank goodness for that! lol! Typical man, laughs at his own jokes!

Eric

EW... I'm very good at multi tasking:-)

Jules, here's wishing you well with the upcoming Op. We expect to hear from you on progress. John

john.. not me yet but moneyplus who is having the replacement.

Don't worry, Jules, John is mere man and all legs are the same to him! Eric

Oops, apologies Jules and good luck MoneyPlus...not sure though that all legs are the same to me, perhaps to Eric, but then again!! John

Continuing the Technicals, all previous provisos remain:

IDOX: Current SP around 11p and seems to have a entered a slight uptrend over the last 6 months bounded by 12.75 to 9.42p. Always difficult to say what will happen next to the SP of such a small cap share that seems to be range bound. Current trend is down and I would place my SL at the lower bound of the channel.

AUG: Remains in a strong uptrend, with an upper target of 290p and beyond. Currently looking to push higher.

SPS: Brushing aside the glories of Year 2000 where the SP hit a peak approaching 6 we are now looking for support at the 200 day ma around 45p, which is where I would place my SL if you are mindful to do so. All indicators suggest further falls from here.

CIU: Taking a long term view we have a slow fall from a SP high of 280p in June '94 to a low of 5p in Nov 02, since then we have a wonderful, almost linear uptrend currently sitting at 168p. I see an upper resistance level at 200p+ Indicators currently recovering from overbought levels and I would use the 50 day MA as a SL, currently at 155p.

NRG: This stock really took off in Aug 2003. Using that trend line there is uptrend support at 190p which is where I would place my SL. Although current trend is down it is unlikely to fall back that far and has a target at present of 260p+ but needs to get through 231p on a 2 day basis first.

CASH: In Jan/Feb the SP made a lower high when failing to break through the 144p level. All indicators are for further SP falls so I think a safe SL would be the 50 day ma currently at 129p.

XEN: Well another fallen angel from the high's of Y2000 where the SP hit 450p and currently sits at 7.3p. With the 50 day ma at 7.1p (SL?) I would be watching developments very closely over the next few days.

FTO: Here we have an Oil company that for some reason has not yet really taken off. The SP is currently becalmed around 8 -8.5p. I see support at 7p and it needs to get back up through 10p to start flying again.

NMC: Unable to find data...

TND: Currently hitting the resistance line of a slow uptrend bounded by 24.7 and 18.1p. Needs to break through 25p on a 2 day basis and gather steam. Slightly overbought on the indicators but with small caps anything is possible.

PAY: A strong uptrend remains in place. I note a failure to get through the 268p peak recently, but on balance I would say the stock will try again in due course. SL at the recent low of 238p seems reasonable as it went through the 50 day ma decisively recently and found this level, presumably to bounce out some Bulls!

BNH: 140p resistance level and support kicking in at 105p. All indicators currently nuetral to negative. We still have the uptrend in place but the SP action over the last month is not encouraging.

PMD: Profile Media Group I think...almost impossible to call. There are some signs of encouragement though for the Bulls and the patient.

KYS: Not enough data to form a view that really means anthting except to say that the SP has been in a downtrend ever since it came to market.

EPD: The 50 day ma presents a perfect SL (well perhaps a couple of pts below). The SP has demonstrated some positive upsigns this year but overall it remains in the long term downtrend of the past few years. There is clearly some resistance to break through in the 55p zone before we could really say that EPD is chaging direction.

As promised earlier this wekk I will finish the analysis of all the choices by close of play tomorrow. If I missed anything please advise. Meanwhile I note that when I last posted the FTSE Small Cap was riding close to an all time high, since which we have seen some retracement...this is a good sign IMO, as I still see the 2005 growth being in small caps, although perhaps not in the hope and glory stocks!

John

Eric

Looks like I am going to have to go on the offensive. Can you please transfer my holding in NRG to WNN at close of business today.

Thanks and keep up the good work

capa

OK capa. Note to all: this is your last opportunity to switch - see my post 122; there were no objectors. Preferably by 8 p.m. today but that could be stretched to 8 p.m. Sunday as per the original time limit!

A thousand thanks to johngtudor. Not wanting to embarrass him, but I have not come across a better chartist in my life (which is really two years investment wise) as he always has the fundamentals in the back of his mind and is not slavish to the charts.

Eric

Last opportunity to switch, folk. You are going to be amazed at this. Yours truly is selling MLS: quite a nice little profit and could well move ahead further, bu what else would I sell, with SEO, a potential financial explosion in CFP and a hidden diamond in NML. The buy has gone up 40% today (I would have bought it last night, honest!), i.e. GMC - will explain later but don't want everyone going and buying it!

Switches accepted up until 8 p.m. Sunday; I won't post till later on Sunday evening. Lots of clues in jgt's chart analysis! Jules, capa and I are in the chasing pack and need a shot in the arm (or a booster up the backside, ladies excepted of course!). Chink appearing in the armour of bos and seb - may be weighed down by the expectation of leadership! What about Chelsea - mind Newcastle and Barcelona are formidable foes, in that order!

Eric

Eric, your flattery will of course get you everywhere but seriously there are lots of very good chartists around, most of them are making fortunes somewhere or other whereas I...

Anyway to continue with the last tranche of the Technicals...

PET: This of course is what I would call a true 'hope and glory' stock, and what harm is there having one or two of these stocks in your portfolio if for no other reason than to spice it up! If you need spicing that is...the SP is becalmed awaiting news on the award of Major Oil Contracts in Iraq. Almost all indicators are becalmed around the current SP of 43p. The 50 day ma has crossed the 200 in a downwards direction, and until there is some news I do not expect to see much action...but when it comes (either way) look out!

DES: The SP remains in a slow uptrend and there has been an encouraging bounce in the 50p zone over the last few days, which we could now assume offers support. I expect it to attack the higher levels of the trading range in the 70p and beyond in due course.

PDX: Every time I think this particular stock is going to have another crack at the 230p+ zone Evil and his friends short it again. It is currently ideally placed in the middle of an uptrend at 192p and until it releases some really good news, it is unlikely to break free of the current range (140p - 230p). On balance I think there are simply too many other good shares around to keep any investment in this one at present (see earlier notes on this BB to see why I made that statement).

ASC: If there are any holders of this stock left may I suggest you see my notes on the ASC BB this evening.

TAD: On the surface this stock looks very weak. I am not sure how much further it can fall but something nasty seems to have happened at the end of January and the SP needs to recover to around 10p before any real opportunity presents itself. For now the shorters have this stock by the horns.

PKL: The selling may be over for now as it found a support level in the 140p zone, but it has to get back to the 159p level to recover its poise and frankly looks unlikely to do so in the short term...at least for this competition. The SP drop on the 28th Jan which has continued albiet more slowly suggests not all is well. If it was me I would be looking to move on given all the wonderful opportunities elsewhere.

Eric, I think that's it. Please identify the new additions and I will have a look at them next week. I am still alive after my previous notes, but perhaps that is more by luck than anything else because not many people have reviewed them yet!!

As to my suggestions, please sell my holding in PDX (where Evil is Short)and place it in GMC, where Evil is long! I hear that GMC may be merging with 'Sporting Bet' so who knows!!

Have a good w/end everyone.


John

"AUG: Remains in a strong uptrend, with an upper target of 290p and beyond. Currently looking to push higher."

Cheers John :-)

I'm out of CASH EW so flog them at todays close , I agree with the above analysis by John.

Please invest proceeds in SLV , man in the pub said they were gonna fly ;-)

PS I have no investment in slv at this point in time but I do in SLP which own tons of slv , dyor , etc , etc

Dil, just me left in CASH then, have you sold ?

John, I have switched one of my holdings to WNN, highly illiquid and I would be amazed if you could make any sense from their chart, but I would be grateful for any input.

capa

Yes capa , didn't see enough follow through for my liking after the positive trading statement.

Still on the watch list and I'm always willing to get back in if my perception changes.

Good luck capa.