David Fuller's view Tony Smith of Brewin Dolphin tells me that my application for extra Lynas shares at the offering price has been successful.

In these choppy, ranging stock markets, my remaining S&P 500 Index short positions were stopped out today at 1320, 1323 and 1326 for the June contract, against my opening sales prices at 1324.13, 1328.88 and 1331.13, on 31st March and 1st April (last two positions), respectively. That may pay for the 4-day Easter weekend but I gave back too much profit, considering what was available on Monday when I covered one-quarter of my short position.

Intuitively and tactically, I like to run profits but we have had much more ranging than trending recently, and not just in stock markets. I am speculating that gold will remain an exception for a little while longer, in this maturing medium-term momentum advance within the secular bull trend, even though I was only looking for $1500 when I last bought. Consequently, I am risking some of my paper profits in opening an additional long at $1502.4 for the June position this afternoon, increasing my exposure to gold futures by 25%.

Prices above include spread-bet dealing costs.