Chiefs lead $39m selling spree

The scorecard registered $3.7 million to about $39 million in favour of selling.

Managing directors such as Colin Goldschmidt from Sonic Healthcare, Gregory Roebuck from carsales.com and Grant King of Origin Energy did some on-market selling.

Goldschmidt and Roebuck did some mighty profitable option-exercising at $7.50 and $2.65 respectively and selling shares at $13.22 and $7.46 respectively. Nice going.

Thomas Pockett, the numbers man at Woolworths, also got into the act but he had to make do with exercising paper at $25.91 and selling at an estimated $29.30.

It's an estimate because Pockett chooses not to disclose what price he sold at, preferring "market value". He sold to pay the exercise price of the options and tax.

Elsewhere on the selling front, two directors of salary packager McMillan Shakespeare decided to pocket some profits and there are aplenty for the group's followers: the scrip is up sixfold since the end of 2008. Chairman Ronald Pitcher collected close enough to $1 million, while non-executive director John Bennetts raised nearly double that.

Recently Anthony Podesta, the group's founder, sold $46 million of stock.

Elsewhere, there was some useful buying of larger industrial stocks.

Rarely does anyone from the CBA boardroom buy ordinary shares in the bank but Andrew Mohl did just that. The former ANZ Bank and AMP heavy now sits on $3.3 million of stock.

Boardroom colleague Jane Hemstritch preferred paper in the form of PERLS III, and outlaid $233,350.

Elsewhere, Graeme Liebelt, a relative new boy on the Amcor board, increased his stake threefold, outlaying about $171,000.

And let's not forget one Bruce Parncutt, who made a rare appearance on the table.

He added to his stake in Acrux, which specialises in drug products administered through the skin.

Nicholas Politis keeps picking up AP Eagers shares, while distinguished author and funds manager Matthew Kidman opened his account in Centrepoint Alliance.