NZ investors eager to try sharemarket

By DITA DE BONI

While financial commentators bemoan the country's ambivalence towards stockmarkets, figures released yesterday have unearthed a high percentage of eager Kiwi sharemarket punters.

A New Zealand Stock Exchange survey of sharemarket habits has revealed that 44 per cent of New Zealanders have some form of investment in shares, either directly or indirectly through managed funds and other financial products.

That puts New Zealanders third only to Australia (54 per cent) and the United States (52 per cent) in their eagerness to take a stake in business.

Contrary to popular perceptions, only 5 per cent of New Zealanders have direct investments in shares listed on overseas exchanges, although many more have investments through fund managers with offshore concerns in their portfolios.

Males are more likely than females to be share investors (35 per cent versus 26 per cent), while most investors are aged over 35.

Income largely determines share ownership spread, with the majority of stockmarket investors earning over $50,000.

Wellington has the highest percentage of shareholders - 37 per cent - compared with 30 per cent in Christchurch and Dunedin and 28 per cent in Auckland.

NZSE managing director Bill Foster denied the survey was conducted to counter criticism of the nation's "moribund" Stock Exchange in the financial press, but said findings would dispel perceptions that there is little interest in stocks in New Zealand.

"More New Zealanders invest than [Britons], Canadians and Germans. The demutualisations and privatisations of recent years have increased the number of people with shares. There is a high level of interest in stocks."