If there were ever a reason to believe in luck, the dartboard's win in this shares race presents compelling evidence.
The dartboard, a random assortment of 10 stocks, finished first at the conclusion of the race, thanks in no small part to the stellar performance of junior minor Renascor Resources. The value of the stock more than doubled in just four weeks. That more than offset the fact the dartboard also held the game's weakest stock, Asaleo Care. Shares in the toilet-paper maker shrunk by half in four weeks after slashing its profit guidance early in the race.
The Australian Financial Review's Phil Baker leapfrogged to second spot as his pick of the miners, Mineral Deposits, neatly doubled in value to turn $10,000 into $20,000. We suspect some Shares Racers will spend Sunday looking closely at the mining space. It has been one of the best performing sectors this year to date, with the outperformance found outside the bigger miners, including BHP Billiton, which finished this shares race slightly lower, and held by seventh placed Joan Ponsford and last-placed Josh Maher.
Each of the racers can take heart, however. All eight finished in the black, and taking out the two best performing stocks, Renascor Resources and Mineral Deposits, there wasn't much to separating the rest. The AFR's Sally Rose took out third place, though only a fraction ahead of Money editor Caitlin Fitzsimmons, whose stock BluGlass was the third best performer overall. Rose's savvy picks meant just one of her stocks, Transurban, lost any ground over the race period.
Transurban has been one of the most popular stocks to buy this year, for its defensive, non-cyclical qualities at a time when concerns linger over global growth and investment returns remain low. The company reported its full year earnings this week, swinging to a profit and flagging it grow its dividends, but investors were cautious, and it closed 3 per cent lower for the week.
The All Ordinaries finished week four 0.6 per cent higher and the race period up 2 per cent.
The Shares Race is a fantasy shares game. Contestants start with $100,000 divided evenly between 10 stocks of their choice.
