SGX is not alone and for those investors who remained active and profitable... give yourself a pat on your shoulders... its becoming an institutional game...
So the way for retail to survive is to become an insti-retail... all hail valuebuddies since I strongly believe that many of us are survivors
GG
Australian share investors on ASX hits a ten-year low
THE AUSTRALIAN JULY 08, 2015 12:00AM
Mitchell Bingemann
Reporter
Sydney
The number of Australians buying and selling shares on the Australian Securities Exchange has hit a 10-year low as retail investors continue their retreat from the local bourse.
According to the ASX’s latest share ownership survey — which is conducted every two years — the participation of Australians on the bourse fell from 38 per cent in 2012 to 36 per cent last year, with some 6.48 million people investing in shares or unlisted management funds.
The decline marks the tenth straight year that the proportion of people trading shares on the ASX has fallen.
Over the past decade, the total number of Australians investing in the sharemarket has dropped from a high of 50 per cent of adults — or 8.03 million — in 2004 to 6.48 million in 2014.
However, the study, which tested a sample of 6400 people from September to November, did not measure ownership through superannuation funds, apart from self-managed funds.
Even as the number of retail shareholders on the ASX continued to fall, investor appetite for overseas stocks increased with 13 per cent of investors holding stakes in offshore companies. That figure was up from 10 per cent in 2012.
The study also found that those with skin in the game generally maintained a positive outlook, with 54 per cent of direct investors optimistic about the sharemarket and likely to buy shares in the next 12 months.
“Among overall attitudes to share investing, the most widely held beliefs of direct investors were the need for a long-term outlook (55 per cent) and a disciplined approach (53 per cent),” the report said.
Indirect investing — where an investor owns shares and/or listed investments through unlisted managed funds outside of superannuation funds — fell faster than direct investing as shareholders looked to take full control of their investment options.
Total indirect ownership dropped from 32 per cent in 2004 to 10 per cent in 2014.
“A desire for control has driven direct-only investing. In 2014, there were 540,000 Australians who only invested indirectly, that is, in unlisted managed funds,” the report said. “The qualitative research revealed that many retail investors knew very little about managed funds. Conceptually, managed funds also lacked appeal to investors who wanted to learn about and be involved in their own investing. Thus, the trend towards direct investing is consistent with investors expressing their desire for more control over their portfolios.”
The survey found that as managed funds lost the visibility they once had in the marketplace, younger investors had decreased their use of such funds as affordable entry points to investing.
“The age profile of investors shows that 30 per cent of investors who only held indirect investments in 2014 were under 35,” the report said. “Clearly, some younger people may be using managed funds as their entry point into the sharemarket, but this strategy is less common than it could be.”
According to the report, investors typically entered the market in their late 20s or 30s. Among direct share investors, the age at which investing normalises was around 35 years. “Of all 35 to 44-year-olds, 35 per cent directly owned shares and other listed investments in 2014,” the report said. “This is a significant jump from the 28 per cent of 25 to 34 year-olds who are direct owners.”
(28-06-2015, 04:57 PM)CityFarmer Wrote: [ -> ]A widely discussed opinion from Mr. Ong, from MAS. The opinion is applicable to SGX, thus I post it here.
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"Achieving a Robust and Vibrant Securities Market" by Ong Chong Tee, Deputy Managing Director (Financial Supervision), Monetary Authority of Singapore.
http://www.mas.gov.sg/news-and-publicati...arket.aspx