Seizing opportunity in crisis to keep retail interest alive in stocks

IT IS said that in adversity, there is opportunity. Clearly, retail stock-market investors have taken this to heart - after an absence of several years, many appear to have rediscovered their appetite for local equities, going by reports of a sharp spike in new stockbroking account openings and retail participation during the first quarter of the year.

The reason for the sudden interest is obvious - the steep slide in equity prices caused by the Covid-19 outbreak has drawn investors to resume trading while also tempting new players to try their luck. Indeed, luck will surely play a big part, given that the future of the global economy is hugely uncertain and probably highly dependent on a vaccine being developed before any semblance of normality can return.

That individual investors are participating in stocks can only be good for the local market, because they have been absent for far too long. There are many varied and complicated reasons why large numbers of retail investors left the market, but suffice to say that for now, it is hoped that the interest proves sustainable. For this to be the case, though, others also have to seize the opportunity that Covid-19 has presented.