Friday, May 06, 2005

Trading Updates: We've Got The Big Mo! ERHE OPens $0.045 Higher

Investors swept up in the big wave of excitement following press releases from the Nigeria-Sao Tome and Principe Joint Development Authority and ERHC Energy that lifted the share price $0.08 yesterday lifted it $0.045 this morning in heavy buying.

Update, 9:09pm EDT, 05/06/05 On 319 trades in Friday action, there were 1,269,638 recorded as Buys, 564,063 recorded as Sells and 2,500 unidentified, reflecting the substantial gap that existed throughout the day. Some 16,675 shares were purchased in the last 7 trades of the day, including three Form T purchases totaling 8,700 shares, all at $0.77.

Also, a crew of bashers with names like noawardsever have descended en masse onto the Raging Bull ERHE message board and largely taken it over, apparently to scare investors who may be mulling a purchase Monday morning.

The blog has enjoyed more readership this week than any other in its history, with our average for the week approaching 4,000 daily visitors. The absence of due process in Google's seizure of the $500 we had earned with clicks on our adsmay be offer grounds for a Federal lawsuit on constitutional grounds (among other things, the ad restricts the free speech rights of publishers). We will let you know how that progresses; we won a Supreme Court case on free speech grounds in 1997 (Shea v Reno; see Harvard Law Review for details) and I think we can do it again if we can find the right lawyer. Thanks for your support!

Update, 4pm EDT, 05/06/05 The closing price is $0.77, a gain of $0.025 on an otherwise promising day. Closing volume was 1,835,500, with the Bid and Ask $0.765 x $0.77.

Update, 3:58pm EDT, 05/06/05 The price is holding at $0.765.

Update, 3:57pm EDT, 05/06/05 The Bid is still $0.765 and that's the price with three minutes to go. The Ask is $0.77 and volume is unchanged.

Update, 3:56pm EDT, 05/06/05 The price sinks to $0.765, the new Bid, then comes back to the new Ask, $0.77, on volume of 1,819,500.

Update, 3:55pm EDT, 05/06/05 The 4:1 Buys to Sells ratio has sunk to 2.5:1 on
just 295 trades. The price is now $0.70 and volume is 1,804,100.

Update, 3:53pm EDT, 05/06/05 Back to $0.775, the Ask, with the Biod at $0.77.
Volume nearing 1.8 million at 1,795,600.

Update, 3:52pm EDT, 05/06/05 The price is $0.77, the Bid, and the Ask falls to $0.775. Volume is unchanged.

Update, 3:51pm EDT, 05/06/05 The price is at $0.775 again with 10 minutes to go. Bid and Ask are unchanged, and cvolume is 1,794,100.

Update, 3:49pm EDT, 05/06/05 We're at $0.775 again, with volume tapering at 1,784,100 and the Bid at $0.77.

Update, 3:47pm EDT, 05/06/05 While the JDA indicated the press conference will be Monday or Tuesday, and ERHC said it would be "next week," traders seem willing to risk not being in at $0.775, the current price, with the Bid and Ask unchanged and volume climbing to 1,778,100.

Update, 3:45pm EDT, 05/06/05 15 minutes to the close. The Bid and Ask are $0.775 x $0.78. Volume is 1,765,600, climbing now.

Update, 3:44pm EDT, 05/06/05 The price is $0.78 again, on volume of 1,750,600.

Update, 3:43pm EDT, 05/06/05 The price is $0.778 as the Ask goes back to $0.78 and the Bid rises to $0.775. Volume is 1,749,600 shares.

Update, 3:40pm EDT, 05/06/05 The price is $0.775 as the Ask slips below $0.78 to $0.778. The Bid is $0.775. Volume is 1,747,600 shares.

Update, 3:38pm EDT, 05/06/05 Nothing's changed, except someone bought 100 shares.

Update, 3:36pm EDT, 05/06/05 The price moves to $0.78, the new Ask. The Bid stays at $0.775. Volume is 1,745,000 shares.

Update, 3:33pm EDT, 05/06/05 Its still $0.77 x $0.785with the price $0.775 on unchanged volume of 1,744,100 shares.

Update, 3:31pm EDT, 05/06/05 Nothing moves.

Update, 3:30pm EDT, 05/06/05 The sellers blink, and the Ask goes to $0.785. Bid and Price and volume are unchanged.

Update, 3:28pm EDT, 05/06/05 The price, Bid and Ask are unchanged, and so is the volume.

Update, 3:26pm EDT, 05/06/05 The Bid falls again as day-traders try to exit.
The Bid is $0.77 and the Ask $0.79, a $0.02 spread. The price is $0.775 on volume of 1,744,100 shares.

Update, 3:23pm EDT, 05/06/05 The Ask climbs back to $0.79 as the Bid stays at $0.775, a $0.15 spread, on volume of 1,742,900 shares, meaning a 500-share trade changed the Ask. The price is $0.775.

Update, 3:20pm EDT, 05/06/05 The price is unchanged as volume rises to 1,742,400 and the Bid falls to $0.775. The Ask falls to $0.78. Profit-taking has started to appear.

Update, 3:17pm EDT, 05/06/05 The price is unchanged as volume leaps to 1,713,000,

Update, 3:14pm EDT, 05/06/05 A minute before the 3:15 Surge, consider these numbers: at 2:47pm there were 1,235,009 shares identified as Buys and just 412,170 recorded as Sells, with only 2,500 unidentified in a total of 269 trades. Between 1:25 and 2:47pm EDT today, there were a total of 40 trades, with Buys outpacing Sells about 144,000 to 38,000. Now at 3:14pm, the price is 0.785, the Bid, and the Ask is $0.79.

Update, 3:05pm EDT, 05/06/05 Another mystery: Why was there no reporting on the two major happenings in the Gulf of Guinea from UpstreamOnline? For $700 a year, you'd think they'd have the news. Maybe MoonSt can fill you in.

Update, 3:01pm EDT, 05/06/05 With 14 minutes to go to the 3:15 Surge, the $0.785 price is under the Bid, $0.787, and the Ask is $0.79. Volume is 1,651,517. Youl would think sellers wouldn't want to sell for less than the Bid.

Update, 2:49pm EDT, 05/06/05 With 26 minutes to go to the 3:15 Surge, we're trading at the high of the day, $0.80, on volume of 1,649,700 shares. The Bid and Ask are $0.787 x $0.79. You would think the buyers wouldn't want to pay more than the Ask.

Update, 2:45pm EDT, 05/06/05 We're at $0.79, the Ask, with the Bid at $0.787, and volume touching 1,635,700 shares. On the RJF stuff: We can't go any further than we have without endangering a source, so we won't. Suffice to say that it was not RJF buying but its clients, and they are now said to have 6 percent of ERHC's stock, or about 42,000,000 shares. MoonSt is the basher on the Raging Bull board who is an authority on journalism.

Update, 2:34pm EDT, 05/06/05 With 41 minutes to go before the 3:15 Surge, we are at $0.787, the Bid, while the Ask has climbed back to $0.79 on growing volume of 1,634,800 shares.

Update, 2:04pm EDT, 05/06/05 There are two key items we need to look for in coming days: That the Prime Minister of Sao Tome has returned home as scheduled on Saturday, and that he has signed the awards document already signed by President Fradique de Menezes; and that the announcement of a date for the press conference next week that will reveal winners of the five blocks on offer in the current Niger-Sao Tome Joint Development Zone licensing round.

Update, 1:59pm EDT, 05/06/05 The Bid is unchanged bu the Ask drop to the new price, $0.789, on climbing volume of 1,548,300.

Update, 1:57pm EDT, 05/06/05 The US is offering assistance to Sao Tome, which is also getting $2.1 million from the International Monetary Fund to improve its educational system. Her

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Joe,

You suck! First you take quotes out of context or all together misquote people. Now you supposedly have information and you're not sharing. Report the facts Joe! Nothing more, nothing less. If you get a rumor, report the fact that it's a rumor. Not that hard.

Anonymous said...

WHO THE HECK IS MOONST AND WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? What does a ruling against RJC have to do with us? Jeez!

Anonymous said...

FYI, in another sign of close US-STP cooperation, the US ambassador has delivered USD 120,000 worth of hospital equipment and vehicles to STP health minister.

Interestingly, the aid comes from a Pentagon cooperation program with the islands.

Source: Portuguese LUSA news agency - www.lusa.pt
(For English version click LusaNews at lowerleft, then "outras noticias" - other news - at top).

Bests

Anonymous said...

that's more like it you cryptic schmo.

Anonymous said...

Oops! Sorry, Joe, just noticed that you'd already dealt with the US-STP aid story.

Anonymous said...

JOE,I KNOW WITH 99.5% CERTAINTY THAT WE GOT ALL THREE (3)OPERATORSHIPS, THE QUESTION IS WHERE SHOULD THE STOCK GO FROM THERE? MONDAY OR TUESDAY.....

Anonymous said...

Well you are wrong. They will not win 3 operatorships. That is pure nonsense.

But the key question is will the Prime Minister of Sao Tome sign off on the awards?

Everyone is assuming he will. I have a sinking feeling he wont. Why? Because nothing ever comes easy in this process.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
tradertrades said...

OK, I am back. How come the updates starts from 1:57pm? What happened to the earlier updates?

Anonymous said...

-------UPDATE-------

STP President Fradique de Menezes removed his chief of staff, Mateus Meira Rita, an ERHC shareholder, from the islands' Nat'l Petroleum Council Friday for "conflict of interests", the Portuguese Lusa new agency reported ex-Sao Tome.

Rita, a former foreign minister, keeps his top post in the president's office.

De Menezes announced the removal from the petrol council at an afternoon news conference, Lusa reported late Friday night.

Questioned on another presidential aide, the internal affairs adviser, the president said the official's company had participated in the bidding for awards but had "not been favored."

De Menezes denied media reports of irregularities in the awards process, saying they were nothing more than "fables created to generate confusion in people´s heads."

"Nothing has yet been decided", Lusa quoted the president as saying.

He explained that decisions on the awarding of exploration blocks are taken in STP in unanimous partnership with the country's oil institutions: the Nat'l Petroleum Council, the Nat'l Petroleum Agency, and the islands´ members on the JDA.

The agency's English language service doesn't update o'weekend and one may need a password to enter its Portuguese-language Africa pages.

Those interested may check at www.lusa.pt or take a look at one of the other Portuguese language outlets...Vitrina, etc.

Looks like we have a nail-biting week ahead of us...as the plot thickens....

Bests,