Winning strategy is to follow fallen shares

Wicklow-based accountant Mr Seamus Parle is determined that his favourite footballer, Eric Cantona, will not fade from people's memories. His Never Forget Eric portfolio posted the largest weekly rise last week to net him £1,000 (€1,270) and a year's commission-free share dealing through Goodbody Stockbrokers.

Mr Parle has software technology stock Smartforce, which recorded an impressive 16.70 per cent rise last week, to thank for his success.

Telecom stocks also put in a strong performance last week. ITG posted gains of 15.66 per cent, while Eircom, buoyed by the rival bids for its fixedline business, was the third-best performing share of the week. Property/building materials group Grafton was placed fourth, while Smurfit made up the top five.

Propping up the table of the five worst performing shares was last week's top-performing share, Providence Resources, which dropped 16.67 per cent. Also among the worst performances last week were Internet technology company Baltimore, software technology company Horizon, JP Morgan Chase and hardware technology company ARM.

"Basically, I decided to follow ones which had dropped earlier. Because the shares go up and down, I try to find one which had gone down but was lagging other similar stocks. The key one was Smartforce in this instance," said Mr Parle.

He said his work as an accountant has been invaluable in his success.

"I find the competition very enjoyable and great fun whether I win anything or not," he said. "It's a great challenge with all those numbers to crunch."

He is now considering using his winnings to try to play the stock market for real.

"I might use the free share dealing to either double it or lose it," he said.

Mr Parle, who scooped the overall second prize last year, is already ruling himself out of the running for the top prize this year. Despite still having two portfolios in the top 100, he said his failure to have included Trintech and Bula in any of his portfolios a number of weeks ago, when both companies posted massive gains, has dented his chances.

For the second week in a row, Ms Joan Boulvin's Last Trade has held the number one spot overall with a total value of 2,136,127. Ms Boulvin also has two other portfolios: 1929 Again 1 and High Tech 8 in the top 10.

Mr Sean Connolly has moved up one place to number two with his John portfolio. Third place has been taken by Mr John Leahy's Highland, while his On The Up portfolio was placed fourth and his Last Chance portfolio made it to number eight. Bear Foot in The Park, a previous weekly winner for Mr Michael McDonagh that has been hovering in the top 10 for a number of weeks, was placed sixth last week.

Contestants can stay informed by visiting the Sharetrack 100 sections on the www.ireland.com and www.goodbody.ie websites.