Saturday 1 June 2019

May 2019 portfolio update

Most of May was dominated by Trumpy being particularly bonkers. Then came the latest chapter in the Brexit omnishambles, and the PM resigning. All of which resulted in a degree of turbulence in the markets. In a way this is appreciated since I'm looking to buy rather than sell, so lower prices are welcomed and most of what's on my shopping list looks expensive. There are a couple of things in foreign markets that I'd like to buy as their prices are more attractive, however the state of sterling counteracts the lower stock prices in my view. The combination of high prices and turbulence left me sitting on my hands this month in anticipation of more sensible prices over the coming weeks as the prospect of a new broom at no. 10, more Brexit, and Trump's twitter account disturb the markets.

Portfolio
A few wobbles in the markets this month. The portfolio just kept it's head above water, being up 0.2% compared to my chosen benchmark the Vanguard FTSE All Share Accumulation fund which was off by -3% over the same period.

Top banana in May was Abcam (ABC), managing a 9% increase over the month.

The laggard for the second month in a row, was Saga (SAGA) dropping -28%. I'm not too concerned as it was a small punt taken on a turnaround...it's got to turn quite a way now though...Note to self, silly boy, make sure you've got a stop loss in place if dabbling in future.

The acquisition of Manx Telecom by Basalt Infrastructure was finalised over the month, so that's now out of the portfolio, departing with a 32% gain. Proceeds of the sale is added to the cash pot along with dividends, which pleasingly have accumulated to enable a purchase funded entirely from profits and dividends.

Bitcoin chugged upwards over the month, and seems to have settled above $8k. Hopefully volumes will stay up and the market manipulators will find life more difficult as a result. Alt coins are starting to enjoy themselves and I'm looking forward to a bit more green across the crypto portfolio over the summer. Traded out of a few altcoins and will be moving more into BTC when the prices are right - overall pretty much at breakeven after a few months in the red.

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