Hi

well it rarely gets worse than today as far as the FTSE is concerned - a massive 117 points drop to 5550. I don't think we've seen these levels since early September; despite an encouraging start it was a gradual descent throughout the day largely because of fears that there may not be enough bail-out money if contagion spreads to other European countries such as Spain or Portugal.

Anyway, dare I say it, despite the doom and gloom today my portfolio actually gained a very respectable £100! This was largely due to some unexpected but welcome gains in IQE PLC, PETRA DIAMONDS LTD and TT ELECTRONICS PLC, three of my best performers over the last month or so.

Overall my portfolio was a mixed bag of reds and greens; fortunately most of the reds were relatively small falls, and some of the gains were more than I dared hope...

No skill on my part whatsoever; some days are just luckier than others and I've had a lucky day. Tomorrow the FTSE may gain and my account fall out of the sky!

Best two performers today:
(1) TT ELECTRONICS PLC with a rise of 4 points

(2) PETRA DIAMONDS LTD with a rise of 3.5 points

Worst performer today (again!):
(1) NAUTICAL PETROLEUM losing 2.25 points to finish at 345.5 (stop loss 340!)

IG INDEX futures currently showing +20 points...

IG FUNDS: £930
PROFIT : £160

No stop outs today although NAUTICAL PETROLEUM got to within 0.5 point at one stage!!

Be interesting to see what tomorrow brings....

big Al