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Two volatile weeks saw the FTSE 100 break back through the 6,000 mark briefly, only to have those gains wiped out at the start of this week, thanks to yet another Wall Street slump. Volatility did affect our portfolio, however – many of our plays are performing well and chalking up good profits.

First, two weeks ago, we suggested going long on crude palm oil, using an April 2008 future contract traded on Bursa Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur. Soaring commodity prices across the board, and especially strong interest for this commodity, saw the price of the contract hit our RM3,855 (Ringgits) target comfortably, and it is now trading at RM4,136, which is a spectacular 17.97% up from our tip price. We also bought Palladium, given the supply issues following South Africa’s power crisis, and the commodity soared afterwards, hitting our target on 21 February and securing a tasty 8.96% return at $511 per troy ounce.

The currency plays we suggested are also performing well. Our dollar to rand long play has hit the target and poured a 7.51% return into our pocket, while our sterling to dollar long position tipped last week is already profiting us by 1.30%. Unsurprisingly, given the sharp weaknesses on the equity markets, our equity trades haven’t done as well. One of the disappointments was electronic equipment firm Spectris (SXS), which did well initially but then shed the gains and triggered the stop loss. However, we did hit the target with our British American Tobacco (BATS) long position, which made us 2.30% as the priced closed at £19.16 on 28 February.