OUR share tips finally paused for breath after their marathon run of the last couple of months with all four investment portfolios recording falls when we carried out our weekly review on Wednesday morning.
The overall slippage was less than 1.0 per cent although some of our post-Brexit star performers suffered more severely as cautious investors decided to take profits.
Scottish medical software group Craneware was at the front of this list with a 6.0 per cent fall ahead of its annual results on September 6 although most observers expect news of further big sales gains in the US.
Others to suffer above average reversals included big overseas earners such as Diageo, RPC, 3i Infrastructure and Imperial Brands following a small rally in the value of the pound on foreign exchange markets.
Actual share selling was described as light although we are braced for more turbulent times as dealers drift back to their desks after the summer holidays and accept that some of our tips are now looking fully valued.
Certainly we will not hesitate to sell any of our notional holdings which fall to their published stop loss targets.
On the other hand, there were signs that some investors are now switching their attention to companies which earn most of their money in the UK.
Mortgage lender Lloyds Banking and paving slabs producer Marshalls were particularly favoured last week after more encouraging news on housing sales while Dairy Crest and Royal Mail were other gainers.
We are not entirely convinced that the UK economy is set to enjoy a rosy future over the longer term but have decided to take a flutter on Belhaven owner Greene King for the 2013 portfolio which is due to be liquidated at the end of this year.
Rationalisation benefits from the recent acquisition of the Spirit Pub Company are a major attraction and we believe the company can continue to use its strong balance sheet to pay hefty dividends which already mean investors can pick up more than £40 annually from every £1,000 worth of shares at current prices.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here