Overall, we made very good progress during the last quarter, with new portfolio highs being recorded at the ends of April, May and June, despite the market uncertainties before and after the Brexit referendum.
The portfolio value actually rose during the two-day sell-off following the Leave result, lifted mainly by the weakness of the pound and also the flight to global and defensive shares in the general panic.
Stock / Fund Sales in the Period
In April, during another mini commodities rally, I sold out of my entire holding in BHP Billiton (BLT.L) at a price of 982.5p net, and also sold all my Rio Tinto (RIO.L) shares at 2,241p net. These were both sales at around neutral positions, the latter greatly helped by my averaging-down additional purchase at 1,701p in February.
And just this morning, I've sold around 40% of my holdings in the Blackrock World Mining Trust (BRWM.L) at 261p net, taking some of the profits from the large gains this Investment Trust has made so far in 2016, and also reducing my exposure to its somewhat extreme volatility. Despite its up and downs, it's still worth hanging onto a good chunk of this trust because the dividend yield is quite high and there may be further price rises to come if sterling should weaken again.
Stock / Fund Purchases in the Period
During the Brexit fallout days, I bought into Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L) at 55.7p gross. Even if the 2016 dividend payout turns out to be at the low end of the forecasts, it should still represent a fairly decent yield against this purchase price.
I'm also considering a general clear out of all those shares which individually represent less than 1% of the portfolio value. There's 9 or 10 different components in there which together only make up 7% or so of the total, and it might be better to consolidate these into one or two larger stock or ETF purchases. Still, there's no hurry....
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