Weekly Update – Week Ending 19 August 2011

To calculate the weekly performance on my portfolio I take the close from last Friday to work out the percentage increase/decrease in each stock. This is compared to the ASX 200 (Code: XJO) and the Small Ords (XSO). The Small Ords is comprised of companies included in the ASX 300 index, but not in the ASX 100 index. I include the Small Ords in my comparison as it helps highlight the markets appetite for risk.

Market:	Close (Friday 12/08/11)	Close (Friday 19/08/11)	Percentage Change
XJO	4172	4101	-1.70%
XSO	2385	2356	-1.22%

As the above table shows the ASX 200 decreased by 1.70%, surprisingly however the small orders only decreased by 1.22%. This is unusual in my opinion, given the amount of uncertainty in world markets. Normally it is the smaller cap stocks that are more heavily sold off during uncertain times.

Code:	Weighting:	Share Price (Friday 12/08/11):	Share Price (Friday 19/08/11):	Percentage Change:	Weighted Change:
OBJ	25.00%	0.018	0.017	-5.56%	-1.39%
MHM	12.50%	0.83	0.82	-1.20%	-0.15%
Cash	62.50%			0%	0.00%
TOTAL				-2.253%	-1.54%

My portfolio was however down by 1.54%. The “relatively” good performance is largely attributed to my cash holdings which represent 62.5% of my portfolio. If we examine the individual stocks OBJ was down over 5% with MHM performing relatively okay and only closing the week down 1 cent. This translates to an average decline in price across both stocks of 2.253%.

If we remove the cash position from the portfolio and just examine the weighted performance of stocks held I ended the week down 4.06%.

Code:	Weighting:	Share Price (Friday 12/08/11):	Share Price (Friday 19/08/11):	Percentage Change:	Weighted Change:
OBJ	66.00%	0.018	0.017	-5.56%	-3.67%
MHM	33.00%	0.83	0.82	-1.20%	-0.40%
TOTAL					-4.06%

Given the nature of the portfolio (higher risk, speculative stocks) it is not unusual to see larger swing. I do in fact expect the portfolio to underperform the market until such time as a fundamental event/announcement allows for a re-rating in the company and its share price.