AIM Stocks Focus: ASOS, Optimal Payments, Johnson Service Group

Now that the event logjam of the General Election is out of the way, and the FTSE 100 seems to be relatively comfortable above 7000, it may be said that to look at the AIM market may now be timely for those who want to add a little adrenaline to their investments. Given that this is a favourite area of mine, the hope is that finally the “growth companies” area of the London stock market will deliver for the rest of 2015.

This is despite the uncertainties which still remain in place regarding the fate of the oil & gas sector and resources in general. As far as the trio of aim stocks today in this selection, we start off with ASOS (ASC), a company which is been a particular technical favourite of mine from the time of the gap through the upside in January through the 50 day moving average then towards £25.

Since then the shares peaked out towards £42, with an understandable retracement back towards the post March support around the £35 zone. What is interesting about the current chart configuration is the way that we appear to be bumping along the bottom of a rising trend channel from January, with the view now being that at least while there is no day close back below the initial may support at £35, we should see a fresh leg to the upside. At this stage only cautious traders would wait on an end of day close back above the 20 day moving average at £38.45 and experience of RSI 50 versus 45 at the moment, before pressing the buy button. The target over the next 1 to 2 months is seen as being as high as the 2015 resistance and projection currently pointing as high as £46.

Moving along to the situation at Optimal Payments (OPAY), where it can be seen how we have been treated to one of the strongest charting signals there are in the form of an unfilled gap to the upside through the 200 day moving average of £2.49 which occurred in March. Since then, we have seen a partial gap fill, but the floor of a rising trend channel from December, and a 50 day moving average at £2.69 have so far limited losses. Indeed, the view at the moment is that while there is no day close back below the 50 day line we should see further upside. At this stage only cautious traders should wait on an end of day close back above the 10 day moving average at £2.86 before assuming that a journey to the late 2014 resistance line projection line at £3.60 will be forthcoming.

Finally, it is hard to quibble with the recent break to the upside seen on the daily chart of Johnson Service Group (JSG). Indeed, the recent bullishness here really began with the unfilled gap to the upside seen at the beginning of January, a feature which still dominates the charting landscape. The best way forward here is probably to assume further upside especially since the latest break through the troublesome mid-70s resistance zone , an event which should lead to a significant rally. The favourite destination at this point is seen as being the top arising of this price channel as high as 90p over the next 1 to 2 months. In terms of money management, only a weekly close back below the channel/50 day moving average at 75p would really be enough to even begin to suggest a slowing of the overall bull run here.