Share price patterns

youknowwho

I am looking to invest in halifax shares. There are currently aound 630, this time last year they were nearly double that. Obviously the financial market has been a little unstaedy so that has affected the price, but is it likely to pick up again. Looking over the past few years they seem to drop quite low then pick up. Say i bought shares now, and didnt touch them for three years = sensible investment? or is there anything else in the future that could drop the price even lower!

tradetime

HBOS are not far off 5yr lows however there's always "something else" in the future that could drop prices, the financial markets are currently in the midst of a bit of a financial hurricaine. I'd say to touch the financials with a 3 year time horizon would be pretty optimistc, since three years is a bit tight for any investment.

dipsomaniac

why do you want to buy halifax shares? it is impossible to say which way their shares are going at the moment. alliance & leicester shares have fallen today after they announced they were holding their dividend. there are too many uncertainties at the moment surrounding financial institutions. i would hold back until the quality of debt that companies are holding becomes more clear. and then only hold halifax shares as part of a balanced portfolio

Aegis

youknowwho wrote: »

I am looking to invest in halifax shares. There are currently aound 630, this time last year they were nearly double that. Obviously the financial market has been a little unstaedy so that has affected the price, but is it likely to pick up again. Looking over the past few years they seem to drop quite low then pick up. Say i bought shares now, and didnt touch them for three years = sensible investment? or is there anything else in the future that could drop the price even lower!

There's always the possibility that shares will lose value, especially over 3 years. Basing your investments solely on patterns would almost certainly be a bad idea, as any single risk turning into a real problem can distort or even break the pattern completely.

My personal feeling is that you'd be much better off diversifying your investments beyond a simple investment in a financial company. If you, for example, put some money into a UK equity OEIC (Open Ended Investment Company) the fund manager could diversify your input across 30+ companies in the UK that he feels have the potential to return strong gains over the next few years.

Single company investment is extremely dangerous, and especially into UK banks at this time!

[Deleted User]

Firstly there are NO patterns in shares price, nor will there ever be.

90% of people will lose money in the makets because they dont know what they are doing.

https://www.h-l.co.uk - best to invest in funds as the risk is spread.

purch

I am looking to invest in halifax shares

Any particular reason why just HBOS ??

There are thousands of companies you can invest your 'hard earned' into, and a large proportion of those would currently be a better Investment than HBOS

nrsql

Think it's because he thinks they might be at a low point.

>> is there anything else in the future that could drop the price even lower!
If there was anything known then it would be factored into the share price already and it would be lower. If it was known there wasn't anything then the price would be higher.
You just have to ask yourself "Do you feel lucky".

purch

because he thinks they might be at a low point

Same as above.

tawse57

My HBOS isa has lost £1,195 since October - you can buy it if you like ;-)