After a good rise from the March “lows”, the market has a becalmed feel about it, with most prices ebbing and flowing a few pence each day. My portfolios – plural because I use two brokers, one handling my individual savings account (Isa) with dividends reinvested, and the other comprised mainly, but not entirely, of Alternative Investment Market (Aim) holdings with dividends paid out – have seen a 9 per cent recovery since the start of 2009.

The biggest disappoint-
ment has been Dawson Holdings, the newspaper and magazine distributor, which has plunged from nearly 80p to 8p as it lost contracts to WH Smith and Menzies. It is sad and somewhat bizarre as Dawson was trading nicely up to expectations. Clearly, its future is uncertain, although the Office of Fair Trading is being pressed to investigate competition concerns.