Over the month to 18^th November the FTSE 100 Index tumbled and with it the offer price of netPEP Tracker Fund which fell 8.5%. It has staged a recovery since it fell from its peak of 125.51p on 8^th October and fell to its low of 110.86p on 12^th November. The current offer price is 112.69p. These movements have been closely in line with the Index which we try to match.

Predictably the gloss came off Financial shares with HSBC, last month’s largest holding falling to 2^nd place with a drop in share price of 26% which wiped out all of the gains of the previous 6 months. Another big fall was recorded by Rio Tinto (down 26%) but the difference here was the fact that the shares had only risen 2% in the previous 6 months.

Despite these big falls there were 11 companies which managed to notch up small rises with Sainsbury’s (up 5.4%) leading this group comprising only Utilities and Service companies. A notable and stout performer, however, was a Financial share, Norwich Union which was up 2% much to the relief of all those policyholders who received windfall shares as part of their recent demutualisation.