ISA Full - choosing an Investment Trust!?

TCA

JohnRo wrote: »

The Lowland premium very briefly peaked at 7% but has been in low single digits for a long time, so claiming a 10% premium has evaporated is not a true reflection.

The Mercantile has had a very similar slide in recent months reflected in their performance profile over the same period and I've assumed the same cause and effect there.

Since February this year most UK smaller company oriented investments seem to have been sinking, while large caps have generally advanced, a good time to top up on smaller cos perhaps.

I still think smaller companies are a good bet long term.

I quite like the look of Lowland and am tempted to pick some shares up seeing as it's been on a bit of a downward trajectory and now on a discount. Mercantile interests me but maybe less so.

I also like the look of Standard Life UK Smaller Companies Trust and BlackRock Smaller Companies IT. As JohnRo said, the last six or seven months has seen the sector slip back a bit, so maybe a small buying opportunity.

JohnRo

For what it's worth, this is the profile of my £5K Lowland purchase made July 2013, it's been quite volatile but that was expected.



* excludes income.

Totton

As ITs have suddenly become more fashionable there seems a lot more volatility in discounts/premiums ...

Interesting, my own thought was that rather than a lot more volatility, what we have seen has been the closing of many discounts, particularly those with a decent dividend. I'm not so convinced of an increased volatility though, I expect to see that when the market shudders :-)

Have IT's really gotten more popular though? How would we measure that other than by comparing the number of shareholders alongside perhaps releases from treasury? Hasn't RDR made OEICS a cheaper option that IT's? I read recently that the expected large increase in IT holders hasn't really been realised.

TCA

TCA wrote: »

Mercantile interests me but maybe less so.

I also like the look of Standard Life UK Smaller Companies Trust and BlackRock Smaller Companies IT.

All the above plus Aberforth Smaller Companies are over 2% down today as I type. Trigger finger is getting twitchy!

JohnRo

JEMI continues to march on.

My next scheduled purchase is 1st October for Merchants and ALAI to snag the Q4 dividends and fill 2 of 6 CSD minimum requirements, so hoping they also slide some more over the next three weeks.

I'm quite substantially overweight on LWI and MRC so don't mind seeing them slip back, probably a year or two before my scheduled rotation will get round to topping them up unless the regional differentials go loopy.

TCA

Kicking myself for not buying JEMI a while back.

Been keeping my eye on ALAI - it has ticked up a little bit recently. The Brazil presidential election is on 5th October, so that could have some effect in either direction.