I bought shares in another AIM company this week. As usual I invested half of my usual minimum amount and got a discounted dealing commission. It’s even more important on the AIM to limit your risk by investing less and diversely.
AIM
This gives me three AIM companies Solo Oil, Graphene Nanochem and Verona Pharma, which I bought this week. Solo Oil is in profit and cancels out the losses on the other two.
Politics
There are political risks now and so this week I sold Lloyds Banking Group and TSB. The TSB takeover looks like going ahead, but I didn’t wait for the little bit extra I could have made on that. It could all fall through, but I think that’s unlikely.
FTSE 100
After the FTSE 100 soared through the 7,000 barrier last week, it seemed almost inevitable it would drop back with profit taking. It dropped back this week and I am wondering if I should have sold Tesco too. I think Tesco has some way to go and the management appear to have the right idea. RSA insurance went into profit for me, but again they are dropping back. Stephen Hester is in charge there. Will he bring it back? I’m not too confident, so I’ll monitor that one closely. Taylor Wimpey has dropped back too, but the dividend and special dividend are coming up, so I hung on to Taylor Wimpey too. Meanwhile, in the FTSE 250, Balfour Beatty dropped back, but appears to be going back up today. I think I should watch the FTSE 250 more closely.
Watch list
I added Thorntons (THT) to my watch list this week. They had a good Christmas and will probably do well at Easter too. Cable and Wireless (CWC) has completed the purchase of Columbus in Trinidad and Tobago which will help them come back to profit. I have them on my watch list too and might be able to buy on a dip in price. I’m always looking to buy with diversity in mind.
Do nothing
I don’t really have a golden rule of investing, but if I did then ‘if in doubt do nothing’ would probably be it. That applies doubly to the AIM market where fortunes can be made, but also lost. Share prices in the AIM market will do nothing for some time too or they will steadily drop waiting for that ‘good news’ that all AIM investors wait for. The good news can be the license to drill for oil or the license to market some new pharmaceutical. It’s a high risk market and the rewards reflect that. The spreads on the AIM market reflect the risks the market makers face too. If the spread is really high, then beware.
That’s it for this week. What do you aim to do when you’re investing? Please share your thoughts in the comments box. You can also follow me on Twitter.
Incidentally, I bought Lloyds for 28p and sold for 80p; that’s not a bad return.
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