Private client share dealing in the UK was up substantially in the third quarter of 2005, fuelled by a strong revival in the major UK stock ...

Private client share dealing in the UK was up substantially in the third quarter of 2005, fuelled by a strong revival in the major UK stock indices. Small shareholders made about 3.32 million trades in the third quarter of this year, up from just 2.6 million at the depth of the bear market in early 2003, according to ComPeer, a specialist provider of stockbroking information. ComPeer said the average deal was worth a fifth more, at nearly £7,500 ($12,892), than two and a half years ago. Michael Faulkes, chief executive of TD Waterhouse, one of the UK’s big three private client brokers, told the Daily Telegraph: “We have seen rising retail investor activity in the discount brokerage market in the past 12 months. There has been some volatility, but generally the levels are rising.” Mr Faulkes sees confidence returning to the private investor after the tech-stock meltdown and corporate scandals surrounding companies such as Enron. “They are putting some distance behind that, and a rising market generally gets plenty of coverage. It is rekindling the interest they once had in equities,” he told the UK newspaper.