9 Apr 2024

Investor confidence soars at Sharesies

1:03 pm on 9 April 2024
Stock market exchange graph price drop with red numbers investment lose of business financial digital background / C

Photo: 123RF

Retail investment app Sharesies has had its biggest trading month ever, with Wall Street trades accounting for three quarters of the volume.

Sharesies said total trading volume was a record of nearly half a billion dollars in March, with activity in the first three months of the year focused on the microcomputing sector, particularly US-based companies, such as Nvidia Corp and Advanced Micro Devices.

AI software and hardware supplier Nvidia bumped logistics company Mainfreight from its fourth-place ranking.

Several other NZX stocks, including Ryman Healthcare and Tourism Holdings, also fell in the rankings after rallying in the last quarter of 2023.

US trading made up 75 percent of trading volumes in March, compared with 17 percent for NZX and 9 percent for the ASX.

Sharesies co-founder and co-chief executive Sonya Williams said investors were cautious and funding their buying activity with existing funds.

"The fact that investors are steadily contributing to their portfolios and making active decisions to profit-take, despite a technical recession in New Zealand and ongoing inflationary pressures, shows they understand the value of playing the long game," Williams said.

"A set-and-forget, dollar-cost averaging strategy remains a popular way for our investors to build wealth on Sharesies."

Sharesies has more than $3 billion in funds under management and more than 620,000 customers in New Zealand and Australia.

Get the RNZ app

for ad-free news and current affairs