12 February 2010 / by Andy Davies
Barclays Stockbrokers has revealed that bullish share dealing customers have capitalised on recent market falls as the buy to sell ratio increased.
According to Barclays’ latest figures, last week saw buys accounting for 61 per cent of all trades compared to 39 per cent of sells.
The execution-only broker suggested that fresh concerns over the state of global economy following the sterling falling to an eight-and-a-half-month low against the dollar coupled with concerns over Greece’s debt burden, has seen confident investors looking to capitalise on this “market turmoil”.
Commenting, Barbara-Ann King, head of investments at Barclays Stockbrokers said: “We have consistently seen our clients capitalising on market movements, and over the past year there has been clear correlation between market drops and the buy/sell ratio increasing.
“Generally we tend to see an increase in the purchase rate (by number of trades) as, or just after, the market takes a sharp fall as investors seek to exploit weakness in the market.”
Meanwhile, Henk Potts, equity strategist at Barclays Wealth, has welcomed the decision by some investors to buy rather than sell.
“We advocate remaining fully invested in a diversified portfolio that corresponds to investors’ overall risk levels, as selling on the basis of the market’s concerns alone does not usually prove to be a good investment decision,” he said.
But he warned: “As the situation becomes more volatile, investors might start considering some downside protection.”
© Fair Investment Company Ltd