A little something to wear

ADRIAN HOAR wears one when he is out riding. Keith Mansfield takes his to the garage.

It is a matchbox-sized bleeper that alerts stock market investors when one of their shares moves to a pre-set level.

The pager, FT Cityline, bleeps within one minute of the share breaching an upper or lower limit. It then flashes up a telephone number for the investor to call.

Mr Hoar, a showjumper, said: 'There's a heart-stopping moment before you know whether the share has moved up or down. I invest mainly in smaller company shares and set tighter limits. I use them as stop losses either way - so I can take the profit or halt the losses.'

He wears the bleeper when he is out riding and takes along a portable telephone.

Mr Mansfield owns a motor repair firm in Leicestershire and follows 500 companies.

'It allows me to get on with other things - now I can be in control at any time, and only call the service when I need to, not just off the cuff,' he said.

The price of Blue Circle Cement rose by 19p in one day, but started falling the next day. Mr Mansfield swiftly sold and avoided a further loss of 7p per share during that day.

The pager from Hutchison Paging costs pounds 159 including a year's subscription. Annual subscriptions then cost pounds 99. It can also double as a pager with message service for an extra pounds 60 a year. It can monitor over 10,000 shares and unit trusts.

(Photograph omitted)