Hot Stocks: a week of profit taking

The week's most actively bought investments

Source: Selftrade. *Data is as at market close last Wednesday.

The week's most actively sold investments

Source: Selftrade. *Data is as at market close last Wednesday.

Opportunities abound

A mixture of familiar and new shares appear in this week’s top traded list. Private investors, it seems, have sought opportunities during a week that saw the FTSE 100 hover around 5,900.  

And with the market at this relatively healthy level, there has been some profit taking, leading to that rare occurrence of sells marginally pipping buys.

Dominating the sales this week are the banks. The usual suspects are there: Lloyds (LLOY.L), Barclays (BARC.L) and the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L). 

Banks have had a good run of late, with a mini European rally emerging from the eurozone doom. Liquidity offered to European banks under the current policy regime is proving advantageous to returns, and given historical comparisons many analysts believe the worst could now be behind the banks.

The eurozone crisis continues to haunt the sector, but some of this is already priced in. Interestingly, some fund managers have been increasing exposure to banks recently. This demand has underpinned price rises, and for private investors, who were prepared to buy into the sector when prices slid, the opportunity to take profits has proved irresistible.

But it was not all selling. Among those bought is struggling retailer Game (GMG.L), notable for a string of profits warnings and weak sales. But a new strategic plan from lender RBS and plans to sell off its overseas operations have caught the eyes of investors and lifted prices from their trough.

Elsewhere, oil and gas explorer Gulf Keystone (GKP.L) continues to write an intriguing story, now concentrating on operations in Kurdistan, and it once again features in the list. 

Also drawing buys is ailing Premier Foods (PFD.L). The company has announced a restructuring plan resulting in 600 job losses, one of which is its group marketing director. 

This week’s statistics show that private investors are able to take a medium-term view of favoured sectors, buying on weakness and taking profits on market strength.  

But this does not detract from individual opportunities that present themselves in any market.