Sharetrack investors with Golden Vale in their portfolios were the biggest winners last week as its share price soared with heavier-than-usual volumes of the stock traded following the announcement by Kerry Group that it had made an offer for the company.
Golden Vale's share price rose by a massive 39.05 per cent to dominate to list of the five top-performing shares.
Oil company Providence Resources continued its yo-yo performance last week, posting a 20 per cent gain to rank as the second-best performing share. It was the worst performing share in the previous week. The minor placings were made up by Readymix, Ryan Hotels and Horizon, which bucked the trend for tech stocks last week.
Chip and tech stocks suffered following Nokia's mid-week profit warning, with the telecoms company itself bearing the brunt. Its share price dipped 26.81 per cent during the week. Also suffering badly last week were hardware technology companies Nortel, which fell by 26.14 per cent, and Lucent, which lost 24.30 per cent.
Internet technology company Baltimore continued its run of poor form, losing 22.81 per cent, while fellow Internet technology company Amazon.com completed the table of the five worst performing shares.
Golden Vale's impressive gains during the week helped Mr Michael Cunningham to put in the best performance last week with his appropriately named Weekly Winner portfolio. It posted the biggest overall rise of the week at 35.87 per cent, just edging out Mr Charles Kingston's Alexandria portfolio, which rose by 35.19 per cent.
As the portfolio name suggests, Mr Cunningham was aiming specifically for the weekly prize, targeting what he thought were volatile stocks and takeover candidates.
"Before the competition, Golden Vale was considered to be undervalued and just when the competition started it dropped quite dramatically because of the foot-and-mouth disease. The view was that, if it was a temporary phenomenon - which it turned out to be - obviously the share price would recover. And you still had the possibility with Dermot Desmond there, there might be some kind of corporate activity," said Mr Cunningham.
Mr Cunningham, who is from Blackrock, Co Dublin, picks up £1,000 (#1,270) and a year's commission-free share dealing through Goodbody Stockbrokers as a result of his win.
"My family already have it spent," said the semi-retired consultant.
With his portfolio now ranked 13th overall, there is always the possibility of clinching the £15,000 overall top prize.
"The portfolio has moved up quite well and that gives me a springboard for going for the top one," said Mr Cunningham. "When you come into the last week or two, you're in a situation where anyone in the top 20 can either make a good move or bad move, so it's not over until it's over."
But it may take something special to move Ms Joan Boulvin's Last Trade from the top, which it has now occupied for the third week running.
Contestants can stay informed by visiting the Sharetrack 100 sections on the www.ireland.com and www.goodbody.ie websites.
