Well oil be damned: two players tie for top spot

With 350 shares to choose from and up to 20 allowed per fund, the chances of a dead heat were slim, but that’s exactly what happened in our Fantasy Fund Manager game last week.

Robert Feltham, a 68-year-old business psychologist from south- west London, and David Allerton, a 40-yearold software developer from Stoke-onTrent, have shared the £1,000 weekly prize after a first- ever tie at the top of the leaderboard.

Both players turned £ 96,803 into £ 104,617 last week, the highest return in the game over those five days, using identical five-stock portfolios. Mr Feltham and Mr Allerton also shared the same aim: to claim one of our £1,000 weekly prizes.

They both started the game at the beginning of April with 20pc of their funds in five oil stocks: Tullow Oil, Diversified Gas & Oil, Energean, Cairn Energy and Wood Group. Neither has made a change since.

Mr Feltham said the thinking behind his fund, villagegreenpreservationsociety, was “very simple”.

“I have basically set it up to win a weekly prize. I thought I would need a sector that was quite volatile so would have a fair chance over five days,” he said.

“There is nothing more volatile than the oil price. So I went for stocks that were closely linked to oil exploration and production.”

Unbeknown to him, however, Mr Allerton had struck on exactly the same idea with his fund, Hail Mary. “I had to pick a volatile sector and hope for the best that one week there would be a big upturn,” he said.

Mr Feltham said he had picked smaller oil producers as he believed they would prove more volatile, while Mr Allerton was eyeing a “Brexit bounce” for the companies.

Neither plans any changes to his portfolio as the game enters its final stages. Both are willing to share the spoils again should oil stocks enjoy another strong week before the end of the competition on May 28.

To be in with a chance of winning the £ 5,000 top prize, players must sign up before 4.30pm on Friday May 14. Subscribers should visit telegraph.co.uk/fantasy-fund to set up their portfolio.