I don’t normally rush to check stock prices each day, but given the market had hit a new high, I thought I’d have a quick peek. So all I need over the next few months is another few percent gain and I’ll have comfortably beaten any return I could have got from an interest-bearing security.

As of the close of the ASX on Monday afternoon, prices were:

• Compass Resources CMR at $5.13 per share
• BHP Billiton BHP at $31.18 per share
• Oxiana OXR at $3.30 per share
• Kagara Zinc KZL at $6.18 per share

After that I got cold feet and took my cash out of the market, missing out on more tidy profits. I’d been reading Martin Zweig’s Winning on Wall Street and I was concerned about having a lot of cash in the market while interest rates were rising.

On the other hand, watching prices continue to rise was irritating. Furthermore, the Chinese economy, which in large part is responsible for the mining stocks’ boom was continuing to grow at a ferocious rate. I decided to go back into the market, taking heed of Zweig’s advice not to commit all of my funds because of my uncertainty about the effects of interest rates on the stock market. I decided to do as I had done before and invest $100,000 into the same four ASX stocks - I did this on November 2 last year. I bought:

• Compass Resources CMR at $4.52 per share
• BHP Billiton BHP at $27.31 per share
• Oxiana OXR at $3.22 per share
• Kagara Zinc KZL at $6.90 per share

As of the close of the ASX on Friday afternoon, prices were:

• Compass Resources CMR at $5.00 per share
• BHP Billiton BHP at $30.71 per share
• Oxiana OXR at $3.24 per share
• Kagara Zinc KZL at $6.18 per share

Overall that’s a 3.3% gain, or 6% annualized. I’d have been as well keeping the money in the bank. We’ll see how things pan out over the next few months.

Leighton / Abigroup have been chosen as the preferred tenderers to build Brisbane’s $1.88 billion motorway upgrade and the new Gateway Bridge.

Construction work should begin by the end of the year. The builders are going to build a new Gateway Bridge 50 metres east of the existing bridge and upgrade 20 kilometres of the Gateway Motorway between Mount Gravatt and Nudgee.

More than 5,000 jobs will be created during the four-and-a-half year construction period. The government is estimating a flow-on into the local economy of $450 million in wages and salaries.

To help meet the cost of the project, tolling on both the new and existing bridges will continue for 30 years after the works are completed.

In 2011, the toll to use the bridge - collected electronically - is expected to be $3.10. rather than the $2.20 if the Federal government had supported the project.

Recently Queensland has been very active in recruiting healthcare workers - and is still recruiting! According to the government, in the last year, recruitment figures for additional staff (extra staff over and above existing staffing levels) in Queensland have been:

• 397 extra doctors
• 1,812 extra nurses
• 601 extra allied health professionals

In real terms, that translates into 4,949 doctors working in public hospitals today compared to 4,552 in June 2005. 23,723 nurses today compared to 21,911 in June 2005. 6,407 allied health professionals compared to 5,806.

The Government says it will continue to recruit aggressively to ensure hospitals have the clinical staff they need.

To add to this particular financial grief felt by pool owners, they will also be required to do further penance by installing at least two of the following: dual flush toilets, a water-efficient washing machine or water-efficient taps and shower heads.

Come the end of October, using a bucket or a watering can to water gardens in Brisbane will be allowed only on alternate days. (A hosepipe ban came in months ago.)

Businesses and government offices are also going to face mandatory restrictions for the first time.

The top 10 per cent of business water users will have to come up with ways to reduce their usage by 25 per cent or implement best practice management for their industry with fines of up to $15,000 waiting for those who don’t pull their socks up.

For the many who can’t be bothered reading my previous post, let me remind you that I initially had $100,000 to invest, which I split it into four $25,000 chunks and bought:

• Compass Resources CMR at $0.54 per share
• BHP Billiton BHP at $16.30 per share
• Oxiana OXR at $0.83 per share
• Kagara Zinc KZL at $1.19 per share

I sold all of my shares in May for:

• Compass Resources CMR at $3.60 per share
• BHP Billiton BHP at $28.65 per share
• Oxiana OXR at $2.95 per share
• Kagara Zinc KZL at $3.54 per share

Today these shares closed at:

• Compass Resources CMR at $4.20 per share
• BHP Billiton BHP at $25.05 per share
• Oxiana OXR at $2.69 per share
• Kagara Zinc KZL at $4.92 per share

If I had held my shares for another 3.5 months, my $100,000 would have grown to $417,249. The shares I sold increased in value by 11.6% in 3.5 months. That’s an annualised gain of about 40 percent.

So although this fool and his money have not been parted - I’ve been too cautious to do anything with the money - this fool would have done better if he had not sold his shares at the first hint of trouble.

It’s a good read - I’d recommend it to anyone wanting to learn about taking a profit out of the stock market. It’s particularly appropriate to investors who want to put their money into the U.S. markets but is useful globally. One of Zweig’s main themes is his Super Model which aims to inform investors whether they should be fully invested in the markets or not. Zweig produces his Super Model by combining his Momentum Model and his Monetary Model and uses it to time his entries to and his exits from the stock market.

Zweig uses a monetary model to predict the market’s broad direction. There are three parts to the monetary model - The Prime Rate Indicator, The Fed Rate Indicator and the Installment Debt Indicator.

I’ve been trying to get to grips with the modelling. At the moment, the signals, both monetary and momentum, seem to indicate that the US markets are not exactly a strong buy. More good news will be needed before anyone should invest there.

Zweig’s performance has an investment adviser and tipster is extremely good, so I would judge that it’s worthwhile paying attention to what he has written.

Brisbane was born at Largs in Ayrshire, Scotland and he was educated at the University of Edinburgh.

Between 1821 and 1825, on the recommendation of The Duke of Wellington, he held the position of Governor of New South Wales, a post he held until 1825. While Governor, Brisbane improved the land grants system and reformed the currency. He trialled crops of coffee, tobacco, cotton and flax.

In 1823 John Oxley was sent by Major-General Brisbane to find a site for a new gaol for convicts who were repeat offenders. Oxley discovered a large river flowing into Moreton Bay and convicts began arriving there in 1824. Oxley proposed that both the river and the settlement be named after Brisbane. The convict settlement became a town in 1834.

So there you have it. The city of Brisbane, like Sydney, began its history as a convict settlement and was named after a British soldier and Governer of New South Wales.

Major-General Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane died in 1860 in Largs.

After a lot of thought, we’ve decided against using my stock market gains to buy an investment property in Brisbane.

The latest real estate numbers show that house prices in Brisbane have only increased by 4.4 percent in the last 12 months. The previous 12 months showed similar price growth. Fair enough, house prices are still increasing but the rate of increase is anaemic. With market watchers predicting more interest rate hikes I don’t think there’s a great deal of steam left in the housing market.

The best time to have got into the market here was around 2001. The average house price then stood at about $150,000. By 2004 it had more then doubled to about $320,000. Fortunately, we have owned our house throughout this period. It seems unlikely that by buying another house now we’d be able to enjoy similar gains.

Today average house price in Brisbane is around $340,000 (£136,000). Of course an “average house” here is detached and quite a bit bigger than an average house in the UK so houses here are still good value for anyone coming here from the UK .

We’re thinking about using our profits from the stock market to get into the property renting market in Brisbane.

We can buy something quite nice, close to the city centre with the money we’ve made.

Here are a couple that we’ve looked at. The first has three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a separate toilet and is priced at $339,000 (£135,000) .

The second has two bedrooms and two bathrooms and is priced at $315,000 (£126,000).

There’s nowhere in the UK you can get houses like these, within a couple of miles of the city centre at prices like this.

We’re looking into the tourist market vs the longer term rental market.

The tourist market is more lucrative but there’s more hassle - people coming and going every few days. The longer term rental market looks easier.