Don't forget to check out the Top Lists feature regularly where you will find up-to-date information on MM and T+ buying/selling throughout the day as well lists of major shareholder deals and the gainers and losers on the day. Often the information found here can give you an early indication of "something in the air".

With the US markets closed for Labor Day, Monday in London was relatively quiet. Having said that, there was still an appetite for tech stocks and mid-range stocks. The FTSE100 was dragged down by a poor performance from Vodafone but still managed to stay marginally ahead. Tuesday and Wednesday were something of a rout amongst tech stocks following poor performances on the NASDAQ. With everyone taking in the imminent re-shuffle of the FTSE100 consituents and feeling a bit twitchy about the BoE interest rate deliberations, there was no appetite for a fight and the main indices fell away on both days. Thursday's announcement that interest rates would remain unchanged took no-one by surprise but the general feeling is that it is merely putting off the evil day. With mixed messages coming from thew US markets, it was a day of uncertainty. Tech stocks made a little progress but otherwise trading was dull. Friday trading started off with bullish intent but most of the good sentiment was scuppered by a poor start across the board in the US which quickly spread across the Atlantic and wiped out any real gains achieved in the pre-lunch session. Let's hope that next week finds a plateau somewhere. A little stability is needed now - at whatever level!

The Weekly BB Review

Recent signs from Infobank International have been received with mixed emotions as the one-time flyer struggles to find its wings again. Infobank - 'A defining moment' - Graham Sadd" from pommy followed the announcement that TRW Aeronautical Systems, one of the world's leading Aerospace companies, had decided to license the company's InTrade e-Hub trading software and its renamed Enterprise Portal. The CEO was upbeat about the news, as he always is, but the stuttering start to the trading week in general took the glitz off the gentle signs of recovery. Whilst Blueflame was excited by the news, Martini, ainsoph and DanB were a little more circumspect but DocProc took advantage of the price dip to top up his holding and Hamsterhunter seemed convinced there was northward momentum just around the corner. Martini dipped in a toe on Wednesday (he only has the one! :=)) but was prepared to hop ship at the first site of a storm cloud and did so with Pdm close behind. With Thursday morning showing a further substantial fall, it was a shrewd move. Then Martini began doing the hokey cokey and jumped back in again as some signs of recovery began to show. Others seemed prepared to hang on for a more substantive rally. Following the CEO's interview on Bloomberg TV on Thursday evening, the shares regained their momentum on Friday morning but the bad vibes hit afternoon trading and it finished the day down a tad at 1010p bid.

Romeo and Toon Army are obviously avid Techinvest readers and both picked up on Transacsys, recommended in that worthy publication. Transacsys: valued at cash on the balance sheet! contains about everything you would possiblt want to know about the company. When Billy Liar raied dubts about the effect of two Directors leaving the company in fairly quick succession, our very own hack Derek Wild took the trouble to call the CEO and elucidate from him a good explanation of the company's recent change of strategy. Bohemian13, recently migrated from that other place, posted an upbeat analysis from Cityvoice which echoed the general opinion. The share price did its bit right on cue and, in a generally downbeat time for anything tech-related, managed a modest rise which unfortunately petered out in the final session of the week. buba was well ahead of the game having bought in some time ago. This is the sort of thread which brings out the best in ADVFN as it is such a good team effort and gives our resident journalists the opportunity to exercise their talents.

Following the recent communications problems on this site which in great part were caused by issues with the comms provider Colt Telecom, it seemed just for RedEye to resurrect Colt - the bears are circling!. Having been unforunate enough to buy at the top, he was gratified to see some improvment early in the week but the bears were certainly active as the week wore on and the share price finished the week way short of its high, losing over 100p on Friday alone. The departure of the Chairman has obviously hit sentiment hard. And recent shenanigans here have done nothing to endear the company to ADVFNers.

The Mediakey share price had been bubbling along without much show of strength for quite a while until week when a sudden jump in share price was spotted by Moneybags and broadcast on Mediakey......Run Up To Results. Hamsterhunter was quick to pile in and acropolis wasn't far away - this being one of his favourite trading shares. On Wednesday, the company announced that it had received an offer for and was in very preliminary talks with an party. Whilst that explained the earlier rise, the news was not universally welcomed and, in a poor market, the share price fell away a little. The Interim results were published on 9th September last year and I called the company to see if a date had been fixed for this year. It would appear that there will be a slight delay this year and the projected date for 2000 interims is 25th or 26th September - they are currently being worked on. I guess, with the talks in progress, a delay was inevitable. I can't see anything bringing back the halcyon days of 30p+ but if the offer talks are serious, we could at see double figures again - eventually.

When Derek Wild posted up news/gossip on Have you an affinity with Affinity? (AIH), Mr Jam saw it as an undervalued stock with a rarity value but set £30 as a target when it (eventually) reaches the techMARK. pommy only bought originally as they appeared to support Arsenal FC (I guess that is fundamentalism rather than TA :=)), and interim results he kindly posted declared contracts were signed with both BT Cellnet and Vodafone. Revenue was well up but, sadly, so were losses. But, with lots of money in the bank for further expansion in Europe, who knows where it might all lead? Certainly not back to £80. On the Free BB, only borderer seemed at all interested. Friday's slump saw almost 10% knocked off the company valuation.

Marconi (MNI) was treading the boards again this week with leetrade discovering a vaguely positive note on TheStreet. Thursday saw a fall below the 1200p mark in the general melee but that was quickly reversed on Friday and the seemingly inexorable run up the ladder recommenced for a time - to the obvious delight of Cat and RedEye. however, as with other tech stocks, the afternoon session was a disaster and the price finished at 1120p bid. Whether their involvement in the developing VDSL technology will reap the rewards everyone hopes for is far from clear. What is certain is that this will never be a boring share to follow but will test the nerve from time to time as the price fluctuates at the drop of a hat as we have seen well enough demonstrated this week.

Whether everyone was too busy watching Martini dancing with Infobank or too worried about the demise of Independent Energy Holdings, only crocodile seemed focused enough to see the recent potential of Cube8.COM when he re-introduced an old ADVFN Newswire report by Rajesh. Cube8 investment. After a stirring conversation with himself, he was pleased to see the recovery under way and to take advantage of it. One of the few blue arrows to appear on Friday. Where were you all?

Talking of Independent Energy Holdings, the shares, having shown promising signs of recovery of late, were suspended on Friday as the company failed to meet a new deal with its bankers. There is evidence to suggest that someone has been building a stake in the company for a while, so maybe there is a white knight out there somewhere. I hope not too many fingers are being burned. IEH ........- Bid on the way suggests a few will be. Kayak does not hold out much hope for a last minute reprieve. A similar story emerged on the Free BB Independent Energy Holdings with clocktower echoing the thoughts of many. Another lesson learned.

Meanwhile, in the Land of the Free.......

polymad was quick to note that volumes were rocketing in Where's Whatman Headed? (WHM) and the share price almost reaching the level it stood at before the 5:1 split earlier this year. monkstone was pleased to be a shareholder and holding on, whilst Dil and sweeneytodd were expecting no less than a ten-bagger. The chart certainly looks good at the moment, although any sign of a downturn could leave it facing a long drop to find support. Well worth keeping on the monitor if it isn't there already.

At first glance, I thought Maninblack was taking up hiking, but it turned out that any thoughts on boots? referred to The Boots Company. The past couple of years have not been kind to retailers of any ilk and Boots have not escaped the downturn. However, there have been recent indications of a levelling out of the share price and, as hightone pointed out, in the longer term they can gain strength by being seen by many as a safe haven when the road gets rocky. MegRyan sees no attraction in the shares but last on line sees possibilities there, with the main sufferers in the retail sector coming in the fashion area. Boots is a strong brand with a solid reputation but then so was Marks and Spencer. For me, a long term "maybe". But this is never going to be a flyer - unless of course, a bidder comes along, which seems unlikely right now.

When someone asks Does somebody know something we don't", the answer is invariably yes. In this case the company involved was Transense Technologies. Heralded as a new BATM on another thread here and discussed in detail on the Premium BB last week (), the company's unique product set is gaining quite a few fans. KenBachelor is obviously keen, as is the wah, but a link to a Citywire story on Friday, supplied by sunset outlined the company's first licensee agreements. Safety is a hot topic in the US right now after a series of accidents over there have resulted in Firestone recalling millions of tyres destined to be fitted to Ford vehicles. Some analysts see the current price as a real bargain. The charts suggest a return to the March highs could be on the cards if the current momentum buying is maintained. It certainly bucked the trend on Friday afternoon.

WINNER of my Poster of the Week competition this week is adam45 for a good and balanced response to TechNet in Irrational Exuberance !! (see post number 12). For such a potentially explosive subject, the debate was positive and politely forceful. I particularly liked, "...it is my firmly held opinion that the investing public have been duped. In March this year, through ignorance, or by design, the Market Analysts, and Journalists did a co-ordinated hatchet job on the very industry that has fueled the last few years of spectacular economic growth. It is particularly ironic that this techno-phobic-anti-hype should be unleashed on an industry that was (and still is) only just beginning to realise it's full potential." Congratulations to adam45. If you will e-mail me a delivery address, I will see that a quality bottle of Champagne wings it way to you very soon.

Good Hunting!

The South West Investment Group (SWIG) is virtually up and running with a first "investment" meeting due next week. The documentation isn't so onerous and the whole thing has come together very well, especially as SWIGGERS are so physically far apart. If you need any advice on how to set up your own group (and get a good deal with a broker), I'm sure gumdrop will be happy to help......

I would be pleased to hear from other Investment Clubs/Groups too - whether ADVFN-based or not. If you are a Club official, drop me a line and let me know how your Club is performing and share the news with your peers!

I hope to re-establish a tradition from the good ol'days by inviting Guest Reviewers to give a brief resume of how they saw the week on the BBs. If you think you might be interested in putting something together, please get in touch and I'll let you know what I have in mind!

More new entries are still needed for the ADVFN Who's Who! Let your fellow BBers know a little about who you are. If you haven't sent me your bio yet, drop me a few lines about yourself - a full editing service is provided! For those concerned about security, any e-mails sent to me are held securely on my own system and only an edited version of the entry appears on the public pages of ADVFN's system. No e-mail addresses are published unless specifically requested.