RRSO, PIR, STB, ABU

Today, the ASX fell by around 30 points. My portfolio went up a bit. Why? A big thank you to RRSO. Bought at 4.8c average in Nov and Dec 2010 but it jumped by 6c today to 18c. I have no idea why. Perhaps because of a He survey which shows priority areas to drill for oil and gas?

Lucky that at least one of my reader(s) bought some RRSO at the same time as I did. His first foray into options. He is buying me coffee on Monday :-)

I don't know why PIR has been creeping up and up. When share price goes up and up without any logic, be prepared for it to plunge without any logic either.

I can understand why STB is up. This is quite immaterial to me though as my parcel of STB is basically free because I have more than recoup my cost.

And now ABU has joined the rise too. Again I have no idea why.

These stocks drew me into the positive territory against a fall in the market. Of course, I have lots of negatives too but overall, I have done well today relative to other investors. It is what I call ALPHA.

Slowly I am beginning to feel we are being conned by big financial management companies to think that we don't know how to look after our investments. My super portfolio rose by 3x since Feb 2009. Could have done better if I had controlled all of my money, including those with Citibank and Goldman Sachs. I only do simple research without any accounting/commerce background. And I read a few good share tipsters' reports.