Simon Bain

Online stockbrokers TD Direct this week reported a 50% increase in trading of its 10 most popular stocks as investors responded to the intensifying crisis in the eurozone.

However, as the FTSE-100 index crashed to its lowest since the slump of last August, advisers were reminding less active investors that bad times in the market may not make for good decisions.

...Steve Forbes, managing director at independent advisers Alan Steel Asset Management in Linlithgow, said: "We are entering a period of uncertainty and markets hate uncertainty. But there is as much of a chance that Greece defaulting or leaving the euro would be a trigger for markets to then rise. What I find terrifying is the flood of money into fixed interest gilts - the main buyer of gilts now is the Government, and anyone who thinks that is a safe haven just now is heading for a major shock."
Mr Forbes said his firm had been reducing exposure to European equities over recent years, and would recommend "a 50-50 split between UK and the rest of the world excluding Europe"...

Quote courtesy of The Herald
Saturday 19 May 2012