The Ukraine War continues, a couple of Banks in the US and Switzerland show that there are still banks taking bets on the Economy – and coming horribly unstuck when interest rates rose sharply. This contagion then spread Internationally, tarring all banks with the same brush, whereas in reality UK banks are much more resilient to financial shocks than they were in 2008. Still, that created some opportunities for the brave. Outperformed the FTSE by 8.4%.
TLDR;
Sold a few, bought even more and topped up my ISA during the banking rout – and ahead of April 5th deadline for the 2022/3 financial year. Decent gain compared to the FTSE.
Sells
CEY: Sold at £1.24, (but subsequently bought back at £0.99). Currently £1.04
DLG: A little top up quickly sold for a small gain. Sold at £1.73. Currently £1.38
VSVS: Had a good run, so sold at £4.14 and back on watchlist. Currently £4.13
VOD: A little top up sold for a small gain. Sold at £0.93. Currently £0.89
HSBA: Sold as it had had a good run. One of those lucky flukes as the mini Banking crisis soon took hold. Sold at £6.37 and back on watchlist. Currently £5.49
ABF: Sold as it had had a good run. Back on watchlist. Sold for £19.46. Currently £19.40
Buys – see write up(s) for justification(s)
DLG: Top-up bought then sold. See above
LSL: Bought at £2.72
BLV: bought at £1.78
CRST: Top-up at £2.44
888: Small punt on this. Bought at £0.70
CEY: Bought back in at £0.99 – see above
DOM: Bought back in at £2.62
BATS: Bought for first time at £27.34
IGG: Bought at £6.64
IMB: Bought back in at £18.83
This quarter’s trading shows that you never know what is around the corner and it’s never wrong to take a profit. It also demonstrates the manic-depressive mood of Mr Market. A couple of dodgy banks were enough to make Traders push the ‘sell’ button on Stocks in general. As usual, those that sit tight will ride it out just fine. Those that sold in panic have crystallised a loss (or a smaller gain) and may be rueing it. Those that went against Mr Market and bought are now sitting on gains. I took a chance and topped up my ISA. That top-up went on a few purchases at better prices than a month or so beforehand. Just wish I have more as there are still some good Stocks at reasonable prices waiting for some cash.
Raw stats:
Q1 gain (adjusting for cash in and out)
Portfolio: 11.2%
FTSE: 2.6%
Quite a few shares have gone ex-dividend in this quarter. I don’t know how much my Software (StockmarketEye) adjusts for this in either my Portfolio or the index valuations, but that is still a decent gain over the index. Q2 will see a lot of income from these Dividends in April and May.