Quote from Magazine,"SMALL CAL INVESTOR"Market Summary: The...

Quote from Magazine,"SMALL CAL INVESTOR"


Market Summary: The local market is caught in a fit of uncertainty. The collapse of margin lender Opes Prime has affected a surprising number of small cap companies. It's not as big a surprise when you understand that Opes, unlike larger firms, engaged in margin lending on many non- blue chip shares. Investors in small companies (often the management) took advantage of this to leverage up their stake in their own firms.

The trouble now is that the shares pledged as collateral for the margin loans have no been seized by Opes' secured creditors, ANZ and Merrill Lynch. ANZ and Merrill Lynch are gradually selling off those shares to recover their loans. As you might guess, a flood of sell orders coming on to the market can be disaster for a small company. Only one ASI tip appears to be directly affected by the liquidation of Opes portfolio. More on that below.

Meanwhile, the oil price looks like it may be headed to US$110 this week. This move by oil highlights the growing need for alternatives to it. Not coincidentally, Linc Energy has recently concluded a memorandum of understanding in Vietnam that puts that country's coal resources to good use, with the help of Linc's underground coal gasification technology (UGC). More on the below.