Ann: Change of Director's Interest Notice x3, page-96

Yes, nt -

It's becoming more and more difficult for retail traders to keep track of what's happening with any particular company because of all the "off-screen" happenings.

I bought 125,000 OOK at the open this morning, using Commsec. That showed up in the "Course of Sales" list, as expected, with an executed time of 10:06:34. Nothing confusing about that.

Shortly after I purchased another 125,000 via Commsec, again at 0.029, and - after a slightly longer than usual delay -was emailed a confirmation that the transaction had taken place. I looked on the "Buy" and "Sell" lists, and on the "Course of Sales" list, but the numbers never showed my transaction. From 10:07 until 12:26 the "Last" price was listed as 0.028, even though my purchase occurred at around 10:30 at 0.029. It was as if my transaction never happened.

So I called Commsec to see what the story was. I was told that somebody on the Chi-X exchange was selling a parcel that matched what I wanted, so they simply did a cross-trade.

Goodness only knows how many other such transactions take place every day. We look at the financial news and it's all about the ASX. With high frequency trading, "bots" selling tiny parcels of shares to one another, large after-market transactions and an increasing number of off-screen transactions it's reaching the point where "also-ran" investors have to just cross their fingers and hope for the best. No matter how much due diligence has been done.

Good luck to all. These days, you'll need it!

Jeff