Mr Diarmuid Reddan returned from holidays in the United States to find himself £1,000 (€1,270) richer after his portfolio 13544 had put in the top performance in last week's Sharetrack 100 competition.
A combination of Oracle and Icon as core holdings helped Mr Reddan's portfolio post a 15.58 per cent gain last week.
Software company Oracle was the top-performing stock last week, posting a 15.86 per cent gain and pharmaceutical company Icon put in the fourth-best performance with a 12.95 per cent gain. Telecom company ITG was ranked second, food company Fyffes was third, while software technology firm SAP completed the top five.
The previous week's second best share, Providence Resources, found itself propping up the table of worst performers with a 25 per cent drop in its value. For the third week in a row, Internet technology company Baltimore was among the worst performing shares, with the remainder of the places being made up by Cable & Wireless, Deutsche Lufthansa and WorldCom.
"With regard to the weekly prize, you've got to take the riskier shares," said Mr Reddan. "Basically the ones in the Nasdaq are the ones that go up and do the most. Because you can't make changes to your two core holdings, you really have to plan for the weekly prize prior to the start of the competition."
The Limerick man said his work as a director of an insurance company has given him some insight into the vagaries of the market.
"We're involved in general insurance and life insurance as well, so we'd have a knowledge of the markets to some degree," he said.
Mr Reddan said he will use the £1,000 and free share trading through Goodbody Stockbrokers to invest in the stock market for real.
There has been a change at the top of the overall leaderboard. Ms Joan Boulvin's Last Trade has been knocked off the top spot for the first time in three weeks. But with the margin between Last Trade and new leader Mr John Leahy's High- land just a slender 2,908, there is still all to play for.
Both contestants dominate the overall top 10. Ms Boulvin's Not Another Cut and High Tech 1 portfolios occupy the number three and nine spots respectively, while Mr Leahy's On The Up and Last Chance portfolios were placed fifth and seventh.
Others still in the running include Mr Sean Connolly with his John portfolio in fourth place, Mr Michael McDonagh's Bear Foot in The Park in sixth, Mr Sheamus Lennon's Try Again 7 in eighth spot and Mr Charles Kingston's with Alexandria in 10th place.
Contestants can stay informed by visiting the Sharetrack 100 sections on the www.ireland.com and www.goodbody.ie websites.
