Over the Christmas period I was engaged in planning what to buy for my pension fund. I had one share that I've wanted for ages, but had another £950 to either put into the same share or try something different.
I decided to go for TLY:Totally after reading they had won some big NHS contracts, and that institutions had started buying them, which is rare for an AIM listed share. I set up a limit order to buy them at 46p despite their closing price being 44p, just in case there was a small increase on the opening price.
I left the order there ready for 4th January when it would automatically deal at 08:00hrs.
However, at 07:00hrs I woke earlier than normal as the radio came on and the Today Programme news lulled me into wakefulness. It gave me a start as it revealed the Chinese stock market had closed early after a 7% dive in share prices.
It was clear this was going to hit the UK market too, so I staggered out of bed, logged onto the PC and cancelled the limit order, as now was not a good time to be buying shares at the opening price.
And lo - it wasn't a good time to buy at the opening price as my whole portfolio plummeted - but not the one I had on order - oh no! That one had shot up, but had opened well within my price limit. I watched in horror as it climbed 13%. Should I buy it quick? NO!! I'd made that mistake before only to see it dive as people took profits - such is the way of the AIM market.
Of course, this time it didn't - the shares rose by 40% over the day. I waited patiently for them to drop today as people took profits. Nope - today it climbed another 30%. If the Chinese stock market had not shut early, and I had not panicked, I would have been up by £541.60 in 2 days.
BUGGER!!!!!!!!
Anyway, enough torturing myself about the unfairness of the world. Instead of buying TLY:Totally which I'm convinced I'm now too late by miles to profit from (Ha - watch it sky rocket now!), I went for these long term dividend payers instead
ASHM:Ashmore Group is an investment manager specialising in corporate and external debt. They didn't turn my spreadsheet completely green, with a 22.5 rule of 36.59 and assets to price ratio of 44% when I prefer 66%, but they are making healthy profits, have no debt, and are returning a socking great dividend of 6.53%, some of which will appear in April. I bought 370 shares at 252.484p and £4.67 stamp duty at a cost of £947.81. My commission fees have come down to £8.95 so I'm saving £3 on every transaction.
CAML:Central Asia Metals is the share I've been watching for ages. They specialise in Copper and Gold mined in Kazakhstan, but the commodities crash doesn't appear to have had the same effect on them that is has on most miners. They lit up my spreadsheet green apart from price to net tangible asset ratio of 2.42 when I prefer no more than 1.2, but everything else looks good, particularly when commodity prices recover. The main attraction is the stunning 8.45% dividend, although I'll have to wait until June for the first of those. I bought 658 shares at 151.35p costing £1,004.83
So, I missed out on a staggering bargain thanks to China and having been stung by AIM share volatility in the past. With hindsight, I should have realised this share would not be impacted by the China crisis (although all my domestic house builders were!), and I should have realised that if a share is being backed by institutional investors it's less likely to tank at the slightest profit. I would be far less depressed if I hadn't have had the order there waiting to be dealt. Any other day and there's no way I would have cancelled it. Must stop dwelling! Must focus on my nice new long term dividend earning shares instead...
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