After a dismal showing in Week Nine, Hibernian rebounded by 10 per cent last week to reward those with faith in the insurer. Chief among them was John Leahy of Rathmines in Dublin whose portfolio, Princess 16, was entirely invested in the stock. Mr Leahy, a consultant engineer with ESB International, plumped for Hibernian on the basis of its performance the previous week. "It was the worst performer so I was hoping it would come back up," he says.
It did and as a result, he claims the weekly £1,000 (€1,270) prize which he's considering spending on a holiday. He's also entitled to a year's free share dealing with AIB which he expects will come in handy for trading Telecom shares.
The top three portfolios remain the same as at the end of Week Nine. Andrew Nixon retains his perch at the top of the leaderboard as we enter the final stages of the competition. Vincent Kennedy also hangs onto his position in second place although his portfolio, the Sting, got stung by Elan's nose-dive on Friday. Mr Kennedy, an information technology consultant, was fully invested in the pharmaceutical stock and getting ready to quaff champagne on Thursday after it made double-digit gains in the early part of last week on foot of takeover speculation.
But its sharp fall on Friday, as hopes of a takeover faded, put him back on bread and water. Mr James O'Brien, who works in the accounts department at Arklow Shipping, also saw his Midas 11 portfolio suffer as a result of the turnaround in Elan's fortunes which left the shares just 1.36 per cent higher at the end of the week. But he managed to hold onto third place.
But it's not just the top portfolios that remain in the running. Joining the top three with valuations of more than £1.6 million this week are a further four portfolios while a good stock pick could yet propel others up the rankings.
This weekend is make-or-break time for all the contenders as Saturday and Sunday present the last opportunity for contestants to trade and position themselves for the big prize of £15,000.
Meantime, a Sharetrack 100 polo shirt is on its way to Lochlann Gallagher in Portmarnock who had the misfortune to sell Powerscreen shares to buy Bank of Ireland stock at the heady heights it reached when news of the merger talks with Alliance & Leicester first leaked out.
Powerscreen shares have since gone up, Bank of Ireland stock has come back and Mr Gallagher needs some consolation.
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