WHAT a volatile market! As new names poured into our Top 100, Michael Robinson, of Campbell Avenue, Holgate, has leapfrogged from 16th place to win the daily £50 prize for the top-earning Supershare portfolio.

The same wildly fluctuating peaks and troughs of the FTSE 100 which propelled Michael, also unseated Graham Chapman of Old Dykelands, Haxby, from both his first and second spots, knocking him back to tenth place.

As that was the second time Graham had won, there is every chance he'll be back! But for the time being, at least, his hopes of winning the £2,000 first prize and £1,000 second prize at competition's end on March 30 have taken a knock.

So what is the new winner's secret of making his £10,000 fantasy stake grow and bloom? "Pure luck," says Michael, a 37-year-old engineering technician for Jarvis Rail in York, as he joyfully accepts £40 plus two memento £5 coins from Supershare sponsors, Walsh Lucas & Co, the independent financial advisers of Micklegate, York.

His portfolio was Asda (£1,000), National Power (£1,000), Marks & Spencer £3,000 and Persimmon, £5,000.

Michael who plans to share his winnings with wife, Catherine and two children Michael, eight, and Rachel, seven, said: "I submitted 10 entries on Wednesday and Thursday last week and have now sent off another five so you never know - there could be more winnings yet."

New runner up for the day was Marshall Curtis, of Dovecote Garth, Elvington, who figured nowhere in yesterday's top 100 and now is challenging for the leadership just £5.08 away from Michael's total investment value of £10,674.56.

Interesting aside: New third place, Mrs Julie Bradley, reservations clerk with Superbreaks of Hamilton Drive, Holgate, picked exactly the same four plcs from our 32 Supershare companies as Marshall - namely Cadbury Schweppes. Halifax Building Society, Kingfisher and Persimmon, only with different amounts against each.

Julie, a reservations clerk with Superbreak, York, is on holiday in Spain right now, oblivious to her achievement of leaping from 46th place to the top three!

Barrie Bluck, of stockbrokers Redmayne Bentley said fluctuations in the Stock Market were huge - as much as 50 points both ways - but settling ahead by a marginal 1.3 pence on the day.

"At one stage it rose to a record 5861.9 but fell back with some profit taking."

Big gainers were Boots, up 29.25p to 928.5 pence - "It gained momentum once the shares broke through the psychological £9 barrier, " says Mr Bluck - and there was an astonishing 44 pence rise for Kingfisher to 1,074 pence.

Cadbury's Schweppes were ahead by 10.5p to 830.5 pence and British Telecom was up by 14.5 pence to 604 pence.

But surprise of the day was Dixons. Although the electrical goods chain was voted out of the FTSE 100 index, it still managed to end up three pence ahead on the day at 492 pence.

Which all goes to show that nothing is certain and everything is possible in our shares game that you play with fantasy money for real lolly. It's fascinating, and more than 8,500 entries proves it.

Why don't YOU buy your Evening Press and join the Supershare bandwagon.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.