Small investors stay on the sidelines

Retail investors stayed away from the sharemarket in droves during February, market operator NZX figures show.

At 41,220, the overall number of trades on the main NZSX market for the month was down 27 per cent on the same month last year, while the number of trades worth under $50,000 was down 29 per cent.

The overall value of trades for the month - $2.54 billion - was up 10 per cent on a year ago.

NZX head of finance and strategy Carl Daucher said the increase in the value and decrease in the number of transactions indicated that retail investors were "staying on the sidelines a bit".

Daucher said the widely held perception that the economy was at the beginning of a period of slower growth was "definitely one of the factors" in reduced activity among retail investors

However, Daucher said NZX expected that increased activity in new products - including instalment warrants, contracts for difference and options trading, which is expected to go live this week - would partly offset slower retail participation until general economic conditions picked up again.

NZX's operating metrics for last month also showed that the NZSX's overall capitalisation was down 4 per cent at $63.6 billion, despite the benchmark NZSX 50 index being 6 per cent higher.

Over on the NZAX alternative market, the number of trades at 619 was up 23 per cent on the same month last year while their value at $6 million was up 117 per cent.

On the NZDX debt market, the number of transactions was up by 6 per cent, but their value was down 12 per cent.