Just as January was good to the markets, the first month of the year also brought significant rewards in the fourth annual Rehab Great Investment Race, the charity investment competition. The players notched up a collective gain of 6.2 per cent over the month, leaving them 13 per cent ahead overall.
Holding onto first place at the end of January was AIB Investment Managers, where Lance Graham recorded a 10.3 per cent monthly gain, bringing his overall return to 26.8 per cent.
Graham's best performer over the month was once again Wolfson Microelectronic, the UK computer chip supplier. The stock rose by about 35 per cent, with the increase coming on top of 30 per cent growth over the first six weeks of the race.
AIB also did well on bluetooth chipmaker CSR, some of which Graham held into February. He also held Japanese property company, Mitsui Fudosan, into the current month, as well as a position in GlaxoSmithKline. Graham bought into the pharmaceutical firm after selling out from a loss-making holding in UK gaming group, Rank.
Bank of Ireland Asset Management moved from third into second place last month, with a 6.9 per cent monthly increase. The growth came on Chris Reilly's full investment in Pfizer, with Reilly sticking with the US pharmaceutical firm as February began.
Third place at the end of January went to Irish Life Investment Managers, last month's fourth-placed player. The jump came on an excellent 10.5 per cent gain from Séamus Magner, who bought and sold no fewer than nine stocks.
His star performers over the month were US pharmaceutical firm, Amylin and Irish financials, IFG and Anglo Irish.
Elsewhere, he invested in electronic payments protection firm Verisign and keyhole surgery equipment maker Intuitive Surgical. Magner also bought and sold Ford, CPL and Eircom.
Around the end of the month, he took a punt on Arcelor, the steelmaker that attracted a controversial takeover bid from rival Mittal. As February started, Magner was fully invested in cash.
Hibernian Investment Managers slipped from second to fourth place over the month, after posting a 5.1 per cent return. Roy Asher drew benefits from positions in UK housebuilder Wimpey, Swedish high-tech engineering firm Sandvik and Grafton, his best performer. He held Sandvik into February with an eye to results earlier this month.
Holding steady in fifth as January closed was Oppenheim Investment Managers, where Richard Dunn presided over a 4.5 per cent monthly return.
The result came as Dunn sold his positions in US laser equipment firm Palomar Medical Technologies and chip firm Microchip Technology. He bought into US online IT firm Akamai Technologies, holding this along with IEX-listed Getmobile, Canadian miner Falconbridge and Japanese chemicals company Zeon Corp into February.
Setanta Asset Management failed to move from sixth position in January, having engaged in some active trading. The firm recorded a 0.1 per cent decline over the month, leaving it 0.1 per cent ahead in the race as a whole.
Fund manager James McSweeney bought a total of six stocks, holding all but one into February. McSweeney placed a heavy emphasis on energy, taking positions in French oil firm Total, Dutch giant Royal Dutch Shell and US oil and gas company, EnCana.
He also bought into the S&P energy exchange traded fund. Outside the sector, he put some money into fruit firm Fyffes, which is on track to spin off its property interests into a new listed company.
He also took a holding in Pfizer, holding on to everything except Shell as the month turned.
