John Phelps’s portfolio

WE could claim a booby prize for one of the poorest-timed share tips of the year with last week’s recommendation of Edinburgh-based Cairn Industries just ahead of a cashgrab by Indian tax authorities.

News of the move sent the shares tumbling and we sold our own notional holding for a hefty loss.

Cairn disputes the claim for backdated taxes, which has seen the government seize £82 million-worth of dividends due from India, and expects a favourable ruling at an arbitration tribunal in the Hague in January.

There is also the hope of good news to come at a results presentation in August when directors are due to update investors on a promising Senegal discovery and progress in gaining positive cash flow from North Sea operations.

Nervous investors, however, may prefer to sell and swallow their losses following another fall in the oil price.

The Cairn loss saw the 2015 portfolio continue its recent poor form by shedding a further 1.9 per cent of its total value despite modest gains by heavyweights Unilever and Whitbread. Our other portfolios tended to drift lower in line with the weaker stock market.

There were one or two tips which did cause concern with supermarket group J Sainsbury in danger of triggering a sell signal under the stop-loss system after the shares were marked down on fears of increased competition from Amazon and water treatment giant Pennon also going into reverse on concerns of increased political interference.

Against that, major overseas earners such as Micro Focus, BAE and Smiths benefited from another slippage in the value of the pound on currency markets and international themes park operator Merlin recovered some of the ground lost after the recent terrorist outrages.

Almost inevitably, the list of winners also included fragrances and flavourings group Treatt which moved to yet another all-time high following its recent trading update.