With US markets heading into correction this was the week to stay away and wait for a new quarter and let the "sell in May and go away" feeling pass
Portfolio News
In a week where S&P 500 dropped 2.5% and Europe dropped 1.43%, my pension portfolio dropped a little less at 1.31%. Japan was again the standout up 4.59%. A few moves up in Europe banks made for a positive week for Europe. The drags were 8.5% drop in De Grey Mining (DEG.AX), weakness in lithium stocks and another big drop in NuScale Power down 15.8%
Big movers of the week were PLANT Co (7646.T) (+68.3%), Azure Minerals (AZS.AX) (+43.4%), Bayhorse Silver (BHS.V) (+33.3%), Navios Maritime Holdings (NM) (+27.3%), Mayne Pharma Group (MYX.AX) (+18.8%), Quantum Graphite (QGL.AX) (17.1%), Nordic American Tankers (NAT) (+15.8%), Lynas Rare Earths (LYC.AX) (+13.2%), Sigma Lithium (SGML) (+12%), Cobalt Blue Holdings (COB.AX) (+11.1%)
10 stocks in the big movers list with a few new movers - 2 oil shipping stocks, two lithium stocks, one graphite stock possibly following last week's news about China curtailing access possibly.
Could find no news explaining the jump in PLANT - Japanese stocks seldom do this - will put it on the sell list for next week.
US markets hit the uncomfrtable end of quarter mood with the swing into correction territory.
They always say sell in May and go away - seemed to work out that way for 2023 with October the 3rd losing month in a row
The real headlines are to do with inflation - the market has never seen anything like this - growing economy, high consumer spending, high savings balances and high inflation - well not since the 70s . As this is a new set of factors this is bothersome - the Federal Reserve does not make the same mistake twice. When they face something new, there is a chance they will get it wrong - like 1987 wrong.
Australian Lithium
The biggest mover value wise in my portfolios was Azure Minerals up 43% on the back of this announcement
Azure Minerals Limited (ASX: AZS) (“Azure”) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a binding Transaction Implementation Deed (“TID”) with SQM Australia Pty Ltd (“SQM”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A., under which it is proposed that SQM will acquire 100% of the shares in Azure by way of a scheme of arrangement (“Scheme”) for a cash
amount of $3.52 per Azure Share
Just pops in my inbox, this newsletter item - a few snippets from the article
Hard on the heels of her merger-stopping raid on Liontown Resources, Rinehart has just dealt herself into a fight for control of another lithium business, Azure Minerals.
But Rinehart’s plans for lithium, which have so far cost her about $1.5 billion, almost certainly go far beyond those of other players thanks to a long-standing partnership with one of Korea’s biggest companies, Posco, best known as a steel maker but which is also building a lithium processing division to supply Korean car makers.
Now I have been writing about Posco's aspoirations in electric batteries ever since they acquired the South American salt brine assets from Galaxy Resources (now part of Allkem (AKE.AX))
The moves on Liontown and Azure follow an earlier investment by Rinehart in lithium through a stake in Vulcan Energy which is developing a geothermal brine and lithium project in Germany’s industrial heartland, the Rhine Valley.
Somehow my investments have landed in the right spots with stakes in quite a few of the named players. Time to follow Gina Rinehart's moves a little more closely - her business is cashed up for the capital demands.
https://www.eurekareport.com.au/investment-news/lithium-boom-20/153055 (article is behind a paywall - hence my precis)
Crypto Bounces
Bitcoin price continued the move up from the week before with more of a surge ending up 12.3% with a trough to peak range of 14.7%
Ethereum chart looked similar to start the week but could not hold the momentum with a trough to peak range of 12.2% giving away to a 5.1% move up on the week.
Many altcoins got a bid - biggest move in my holdings was Polymesh (POLYX) up 159% against BTC with a rapid climb over a few days - did not last into the next week
Gala chart showed signs of a reversal from the steady downtrend with a 42% pop - news item on the chart asks if this is the bottom?
Arweave (AR) chart looks similar with the moving averages turning up and a 42% price pop - 42% up is relative to BTC
Solana (SOL) popped 17% and pulled back and was moving ahead again into the new week
Cardano (ADA) chart shows price has made the reversal and making a second week of rises up 16% (note: 4 hour price chart agaisnt USD)
Bought
Elixir Energy Limited (EXR.AX): Australian Gas. Read Next Investors newsletter about commencement of drilling into a known gas field in Queensland. With a crunch heading for gas supply, any new gas fields would have upside potential. As Next Investors do spruik their own holdings, will look to average down if price slides a bit.
Sold
De Grey Mining Limited (DEG.AX): Gold Mining. Sold a parcel to raise cash to pay a few months pension payments. Locks in 1833% profit since August 2016. What got me into this gold stock so far back? Saw a report saying there gold field was as big as the Witwatersrand gold field - my home town Johannesburg is a city of 5 million people built on the back of that gold field.
ASX Portfolio
The segment reports trading in ASX fractional share portfolio. Trade entries are made based on stock screens looking for undervalued stocks (price to book, price earnings, price to sales) that are showing technical signs of breaking a downtrend. Exits are made at 30% profit or 20% if 52 week high is lower than 30% advance. New buys are in $200 lots. Scale ins and top ups in $100 lots
New Buys
Mount Gibson Iron (MGX.AX): Base Metals. Dividend yield 5.06%. Held off buying this as this portfolio already has holdings in three iron ore miners - price kept popping the stock on the stock screens.
Top Ups
Silver Lake Resources Limited (SLR.AX): Gold Mining.
Fixer Upper
Pantoro Ltd (PNR.AX): Gold Mining. In line with the averaging down done on two gold miners last week, did the same here as price looked like it was flattening.
Pantoro operates ne of the old time gold mines in Norseman, Western Australia. Was not paying attention enough to wait for the release of operations report the next trading day - bang.
Cryptocurrency
Injective Protocol (INJBTC). Pending order hit for 50% profit since May 2023 - part of standard practice is to set a 50% profit target on all new altcoin trades. The last exit took 612 days - this one was a little quicker.
Income Trades
In a down week took things slowly writing only 22 covered calls across 3 portfolios (UK 1 Europe 20 US 1). Also wrote to reduce the chance of going to assignment should maret offer a November bounce. Income will be a ppreciably lower than normal months
Resources
Cautions: This is not financial advice. You need to consider your own financial position and take your own advice before you follow any of my ideas
Images: I own the rights to use and edit the Buy Sell image. News headlines come from Google Search. All other images are created using my various trading and charting platforms. They are all my own work
Tickers: I monitor my portfolios using Yahoo Finance. The ticker symbols used are Yahoo Finance tickers. Crypto tickers come from TradingView
Charts: http://mymark.mx/TradingView - this is a free charting package. I have a Pro subscription to get access to real time forex prices
Investing: Interactive Brokers provides comprehensive global markets coverage with very competitive commissions. Open an account to earn up to USD 1,000 in IBKR stock. https://mclnks.com/ibkr
Crypto Trading: Binance offers a wide range of coins to trade, tight spreads and low fees if you use BNB to pay https://mymark.mx/Binance
Kucoin offers a wider range of altcoins than many of the other exchanges. I do like to diversify my holdings in case an exchange gets knocked over. Grab 15% discount on your trades when you open an account on this link https://mclnks.com/kucoin15
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Aus/NZ Investing Sharesies provides low cost, fractional share investing for Australian and New Zealand residents covering stocks in those countries and US. Start investing with as little as $20 https://mclnks.com/shares
October 23-27, 2023