why on earth has this exciting pharma company been ignored her for the last 3.5 years? ...... lots has happened in that time, generally for the better on the longer view ..... from a purely chart point of view, the 200 mda is rising quite steadily, with sp recovering well after a sharp fall, and now, after a brief tease below, is therefore probably worth buying on that basis alone.

From memory, Shares mag was also quite excited about this stock a week or two back, even though that medium has supported some classic stinkers in its time

call it what you like .... you are fully entitled to your own opinion .... surprised you haven't shorted

kate ... you're turn to admit you're wrong!! - lol

today's announcement of collaboration with GSK is not only interesting in its own right, but just may be the start of the long slow dance towards ultimate merger ..... henc +40p at opening

Express says, "Shire said to be possible bid target" ...... might be true one day!

probably something of nothing, but SHP up 41p today, and just as interestingly, volume is already 3.75m+ vs an average of only 550k

volume finished at just over 5m

Results are due soon, which pressumably are expected to be good. Was considering an investment myself as a semi defensive play (being a pharma), which might also explain the rise, given the FTSE's performance of the last few weeks (e.g. maybe a turn in the wider market is being anticipated).

Just a thought....

Strawbs.

aren't you a bit late to be talking about "maybe a turn in the wider market is being anticipated"???!!!

to my mind, if it follows through, it is the massive volume linked to a strong sp performance which just may mean something more meaningful afoot than simple "semi-defensive plays" and anticipation of results

It appears to have rallied 11% a few weeks before results last year, on volume of about 6M, but maybe that's just a coincidence.....

Strawbs.

is that 6m over several weeks, or just in a day?

confess that am perhaps a bit too attached to this company, for i always feel sp should be performing much better than it does ..... one day it will be taken over, but maybe after i am dead!

Two days of around 6M back to back, if I'm reading the charts correctly. It rallied significantly more after the results of course, so plenty of upside potential if they match or exceed expectations. Not that anything can be taken as read in these markets though....

In my opinion...

Strawbs.

Last year.....

Strawbs.

looking back at the charts on page 1, i would very much like to see 200 dma firmly breached (about 880), for then there may be some sustained sp excitement

If they rally by as much as last year then it has to be a distinct possibility. I'll keep watching and may take the plunge if I can see a good entry point before results are out. If not I'll wait until after the results and then reappraise...

Still not convinced by the wider markets direction, but probably about time I stopped being lazy and looked for some good (semi defensive) plays....

Strawbs.

you have been saying the same since the bottom of the market 2(?) months ago, and no doubt you'll say the same as and when the market goes up another 1000 points or whatever.

markets by their nature are volatile, sometimes more so than others.
if you want to be safe, put your money in a building society

I still don't believe we're at the bottom yet, so I guess you'll have to put up with my opinion for another 1000 points (up or down)...... ;-)

Strawbs.

in that case, put money with mouth and go short

I don't have any mechanisms to do so. My investmenting has always been on the long side. Having explored SBs and CFDs I decided against them. I suppose that influences my decisions somewhat in respect of the markets.

Strawbs.

of course you do ..... you can take out a bog standard traded option through your broker ..... now what excuse?

Sorry. Don't know what that is, but will look into it now you've mentioned it and see if it's appropriate.

Strawbs.

of course you know what a traded option is - you're a sophisticated investor judging by your posts ..... scarcely some new-fangled derivative .... they've been around for the last 20/30 years and were always the way to hedge positions before the advent of CFDs and similar