Xstrata is a major global diversified mining group. Xstrata maintains a meaningful position in six major international commodity markets: copper, coking coal, thermal coal, ferrochrome, vanadium and zinc, with additional exposures to gold, lead and silver. The Groups operations and projects span four continents and seven countries: Australia, South Africa, Spain, Germany, Argentina, Peru and the UK.

            Red = 25 day moving average.           Green = 200 day moving average.

SALES PER ACTIVITY (Data as of 31/12/2005)

Coal:       42%
Copper:    25%
Zinc:       18%
Chrome:   10%
Vanadium: 4%
Others:     1%

bought back in aghain yesterday though at a much higher price of course ..... now that position is also showing a 50p profit or thereabouts, does one take the profit and say, "Thank you very much" or risk being too greedy.

Toya and i have both been guilty of the latter, and promise not to do so again .... but we (and others) always do of course!

Hmm, tough one Cynic - and I don't think I'm the one to ask, judging from your comment! I didn't have the funds to buy back in this week otherwise would have gone for both XTA and RIO. I might be inclined to hold on for a bit.

Imo, hold for the 4000p level. I also bought yesterday.
XTA divi date is somewhere near the end of April, so may be worth holding 'til somewhere near then.

XTA is interesting in that it is very volatile and can be traded, yet also still seems to have potential for t/o by Vale if yesterday's comment is anything to go by ...... i guess that because Vale did not table a formal offer, they do not get hit by the 6 month moratorium rule

Anybody know why the sp has suddenly dropped?

Maybe it's because this is going on the the US

"Senate Committee to Examine Economy
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox, Alan Schwartz, president and chief executive of Bear Stearns, and James Dimon, chairman and chief executive of J.P. Morgan Chase, are scheduled to appear before the Senate Banking Committee during a hearing that begins at 10:00 a.m. ET. To view live streaming video of this event on the Web, go tohttp://www.washingtonpost.com/postlive2."

Cheers. Yes I'm watching it on CNBC atm.

nowt to do with owt, other than market sentiment and direction

Yes it seems to have been short sold down and has now recovered.

nice rise, looking good.

Do you take your profit though or keep.

Now that's the bit I always get wrong ...sell it and the sp continuse to rise,
keep it and see the sp plummet

I'm sure it's deliberate .. or maybe I'm just paranoid

Dealer, No you are normal. In this market getting it right more than 1 in 4 is due to luck!

either ...... sodded it up yesterday, but back in profit again .... with Wall Street reaction to (dire?) employment numbers unpredictable, my own inclination is to bank a decent profit ..... if everything suddeenly looks wonderful, then you can always buy back in .... similarly if the market dives

This market is an absloute nightmare. I have no trust in the prices before me at all.

There appear to be a hell of a lot of red herrings so catching the true rise is very difficult.

Me thinks you are right cynic, when you have your profit, got to take it.

There again if the sp went a little higher ......

In my opinion XTA is a reasonably secure hold for the next few months.
There are still rumours about that Anglo Am are interested in XTA & that VALE are still interested, though with no proposal on the table atm. Metals prices are still high & predicted to be so during 2008 & also XTA are approaching divi date.
I agree that XTA share price does fluctuate by as much as 5% some days, which makes for good trading, but either hold or trade seems like the way to go. I can't see much downside to holding this stock for the moment.

100% agreement HC.

Almost bound to hit 38 -40 again at some point in the next few weeks.
I'm no technical buff but that appears in it's favour to.

More sells than buys

But if the jobs data pushes the market the right way, this could easily hit 37 today now that the miners are back in vogue. Big if of course.

make your mind up! ..... you could always sell part as a hedge, but you have just 2 mins to decide before figures come out

just sold at 36.86

With no live prices and job data poor can't afford to lose my profit!!

took my profit too at 3682