A Virgin Trader

As I have mentioned before, a UK virgin share trader using an ISA (Individual Savings Account) as a trading umbrella makes a lot of sense as a great way to start your online trading journey. Above all it means you get to keep more of the profits. As much as I feel sorry for Mr Brown – he’s having a hard time at the moment – I need to hang onto as much money as I can.

Now where was I? Oh yes, individual savings accounts (ISA’s) are one of the most tax-efficient ways to invest. The good news is if you missed it is from 6 October 2009, the ISA limit increased to £10,200 of which up to £5,100 can be saved in cash for people aged 50 or over.

From 6 October, those aged 50 and over – or as my kids prefer to call us ‘sad old gits’ can now deposit £10,200 into their 2009-10 ISA, up to £5,100 of which can be in cash.

From 6 April 2010, this little treat will be extended to all savers, irrespective of their age.

Most online brokers offer ’self select’ trading ISA’s. This means that you can basically trade the money inside your self-select ISA without any capital gains tax liability or income tax on the profits.

Most broker sites have an ISA signup button on the homepage. And if you shop around you should be able to find one that has no ISA administration fees or inactivity fees. I use a couple including Interactive Investor, which has no setup or admin fees.

virgin

Tags: ISA

Over the last few days, thanks to stock like Gulf Keystone Petroleum [GKP], and to a lesser extent Chariot Oil and Gas [CHAR], we have seen what is a perfect example of bulletin board ‘ramping’.

Small investors frequent bulletin boards such as iii, ADVFN and many others looking for advice on what, when and how much to invest in a stock. But they fall, victim to ’share rampers’. These guys spend hours talking up the prospects of a particular share like Gulf Keystone Petroleum in the hope that misguided investors, who have not done their own research, get caught up in the hype and start buying shares in a panic.

The result of this ramping process in one share, such as Gulf Keystone, then infects all the other shares in the same sector, it’s like a bulletin board fever. Overnight the boards go from the half a dozen or so messages a day to complete pandemonium. On closer inspection of the actual trades going through during this process, we find they are from small investors jumping in at a price that is already too high. A classic rookie mistake. Take care.

Since Friday morning a small group of bulletin board gurus have been frantically trying to talk the price up beyond 100p. As a virgin trader I prefer to ignore the bull**** and look for real news about a stock. At the end of the day after all the ramping subsides so will the price. You decide when a stock is at a good price to buy or not, don’t make expensive decisions purely based bulletin boards they can be a shark pit.

Now to put my comments in perspective, I think [GKP] is a great stock and I bought some myself last week at a higher price than I would have liked. The point I am making is not that it is a hyped share; it is that rampers serve no purpose but their own.

A Virgin Trader

Tags: Gulf Keystone Petroleum

KNOC the South Korean state run National Oil Corporation announced it is in the market for possible acquisitions for five to ten overseas oil companies very soon. These target companies would each be producing 50,000-100,000 barrels per day,

According to Reuters this morning, the KNOC CEO Kang Young-won said without elaborating, “We will make an acquisition soon.”

The statement went on to say that KNOC considered this year to be the right time for acquisitions as global stock markets had weakened due to the financial crisis. South Korea, is the world’s 5th largest crude oil importer.

KNOC have prioritized regions in the order of Middle East, central Asia, South America, Australia and other Asian countries, Russia and Western Africa.

KNOC pursued a bid for Swiss oil explorer Addax Petroleum Corp. (AXC.TO) but was beaten to the post by Sinopec, China’s top oil refiner, which agreed to buy Addax in June for $7.24 billion, according to Reuters.

Will we now see some frantic positioning by investors trying to guess which companies to jump into in time for some action?

a virgin trader

Tags: KNOC

A growing confidence over at Nighthawk Energy (AIM: HAWK)

Positive comments are appearing all across the media in regards future potential for Nighthawk Energy (HAWK: AIM).  Hanson Westhouse issued a note on Nighthawk Energy following yesterday’s full-year results, which showed higher revenues along with lower operational losses and costs for the period. These guys give it a 225p price target. That is a whacking premium on today’s share price of 40.25p.

Nighthawk MD David Bramhill reckons the next 12 months have ‘the potential to be transformational’ for the company. Nighthawk which floated back in 2007 at 25p, watched its share price climb to 87.75p before a very slippery slide to a low of 22p.

As the virgin trader bought into Nighthawk only last week this is all good news. Once again it’s time to sit back again, have a coffee and take in a little bulletin board fisticuffs.

Tags: Nighthawk

Nighthawk Energy (HAWK:LSE) the North American based explorer and hydrocarbon production and development company, is a stock I have been watching all summer. For most of that time I have watched the share price gently slide ever lower, is that about to change?

Apart from the completely irrelevant fact that any company named after a ‘Tom Waits’ track plucks on a heart string in by book, revenue has just jumped 3 fold and about time.

According to the company “Nighthawk is in a better financial position than at any time in its history and funds are in place for the development of its core projects for at least the next 12 months,” the company said, adding that it remains debt free. They also commented that operating losses were reduced by some 42 per cent as it continued with an ‘aggressive development and drilling programme.’

Perhaps those many depressed shareholders will have something to feel jolly about soon, excuse the well-worn pun.
Maybe it’s time to take a seat at the table?

A Virgin Trader

Tags: Nighthawk

Over the weekend the trader gave me a little bit of an insight into the world of share trading charts and in particular the ‘curve’. He said that when someone sticks two fingers up at you they are generally in a “V” and they are being rude. I wish I could use my fingers to signal a “J” or possibly a “W”.

The rate at which the stock market has accelerated over the past view months is reminiscent of a train, in an advanced state of decrepitude, hurtling along an overhead railway supported by termite-rotten structures. Sooner or later, at that speed, the train will come off a bend or the velocity of the vibrations it is causing will result in the lines collapsing.

We have had too much experience of markets trying to defy gravity in the past ten years with governments helping shares to deny Newtonian physics.

Y a U, J or possibly W? “V” is the predicted shape of the recession – down and a quick bounce upwards. “J” is the shape of a long slow recovery – down and a long climb back. “W” is the dreaded double dip recession – more like a roller coaster than a railway.

Now it all makes sense.

v

The world renowned New York University Professor Nouriel Roubini, who accurately predicted the 2007 financial crisis, has sounded another timely warning “Markets have gone up too much, too soon, too fast.”

At the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund in Istanbul last week, Roubini said “I see the risk of a correction, especially when the markets now realize that the recovery is not rapid and V-shaped, but more like U- shaped. That might be in the fourth quarter or the first quarter of next year.” He fears that surplus economies like China and Japan will not boost consumption enough to make up for the downturn in American consumer spending.

According to an article in Bloomberg today ‘The global equity rally has added about $20.1 trillion to the value of stocks worldwide since this year’s low on March 9. Governments have poured about $2 trillion of stimulus into the global economy while central banks have cut interest rates to close to zero in efforts to revive growth’.

Should we be listening to him this time?

On the other hand Steve Leuthold, one of the most successful investors in the world, has called for the S&P 500 to jump as high as 1350.

You buy the ticket, you take the ride.

v

Tags: Nouriel Roubini

Enegi Oil (LSE: ENEG), the Manchester-based exploration company, had a great week; shares rocketed in the second half after it announced the scheduled re-commencement of operations at its Garden Hill South Project, rising 50% on Friday to trade at 14.75p. The week began at a quiet 6p per share… what a week.

According to the company, previous production tests at Garden Hill South in western Newfoundland’s Port au Port Peninsula, have produced more than 24,000 barrels of ‘high-quality crude’. Independent consultant TRACS International has estimated Garden Hill South in its entirety could contain ‘unrisked’ resources of 8.6 million barrels of oil equivalent. Alan Minty, chief executive officer and significant shareholder of Enegi, said “we are looking forward to moving into production following completion of a flow test at the well.” All good news.

I had been quietly watching this stock for a while but, as luck would have it, I was out on business and missed out on all the fun- a missed opportunity for the virgin trader this time. Next time I won’t get caught napping.

v

Transense Technologies (TRT), the tyre pressure monitoring specialist who, among other things, develop surface acoustic wave (SAW), wireless, batteryless sensor systems for the automotive industry, is a stock I noted in my first week of virgin trading – July 09 (it feels like much longer), as a potential one to watch.

Everything I had read while doing my research screamed ‘potential for the future’, although how far in the future is another question. There was a management change (half the board arrived in the last year), lots of new partnerships were forged including: Honeywell, Melexis, Michelin, Sengenuity, Stack, Tai-Saw, Texas Instruments, SCHOTT, McLaren Electronic Systems and Carbon Motors.

On the downside it has had its share of troubles and current investors have had a long and patient wait to taste real success.  Oh yes; it has yet to make a profit, it has very low volumes – as you would expect, and the market spread – the buying/selling transaction cost – is bigger than I would like.

However after sitting more or less dormant for quite a while, news came  during the week of a supply agreement with Goodyear Dunlop Tyres. Brewin Dolphin said (and I quote from a guardian newspaper report):

This news is further evidence that Transense’s new management (since the first quarter of 2008) are continuing to transform the business model in line with strategic goals: to reduce reliance on a small number of major licensees; to generate revenue through supplying product not only through licensing intellectual property; to find quicker routes to market and to transform the company into a sustainable cash generative business.

Anyway last week I jumped in again with some ready cash the second I heard that the deal was done. Now I think it is a case of joining the patient crowd to wait and see where they go from here.

Time for a cup of coffee and a very, very long good book to read.

v

Tags: Transense Technologies

Following an unexpected but exciting summer rally in the markets I am beginning to feel the jitters. Everywhere I turn I read either that the world economies are coming out of the worst recession for over 50 years, and prospects for growth are on the up, or I read that investors should be very worried as we’re heading for a serious downward market correction. Which is it? Many commentators are of the view that it is just too risky to buy and that the best place is in cash.

Several of the stocks I have been watching over the summer period are now at a price I had earmarked as a buy signal but, given all I have read, perhaps I should wait for this ‘market correction, first? All part of the learning curve.

As a virgin trader it is all a bit unsettling. Are we at a critical point right now? Are we about to feel a painful market correction or are we about to go into another strong rally defining the end of the credit crunch?

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