John Phelps’s portfolio

WARNING signals were flashing over five of our share tips on Wednesday morning as stock market professionals stepped up their indiscriminate selling of companies which rely on the UK domestic market for the bulk of their earnings.

The list was made up of some of our biggest companies with heavyweights Royal Mail and National Grid members of the exclusive Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 share Index while water company Pennon and Belhaven Brewery owner Greene King have market values of £3.5 billion and £2.3bn respectively.

All have seen their share prices tumble in recent weeks in punishment for their lack of substantial foreign exchange earnings during the recent sell-off of sterling. The latest setback means the shares now appear in imminent danger of triggering sell signals under our stop loss system where we dispose of our notional holdings in any recommendation which has fallen 10 per cent from previous peaks.

We believe the shares still have their attractions for UK investors and offer above average dividends for the more adventurous who are prepared to gamble on the future of the UK economy. But we are concerned there could be more selling from overseas institutions who are now sitting on particularly big losses in terms of their local currencies after the slump in the pound’s value on foreign exchange markets.

The poor showing of these big companies weighed heavily on our portfolios last week with the 2016, 2014 and 2013 selections all shedding just more than two per cent of their total valuations despite steady enough performances from other recommendations.

The 2015 list did rather better, thanks to further gains for Edinburgh software group Craneware and safety equipment specialist Halma, although it was still down 0.5 per cent when we carried out our mid-week review of progress.