Booming trade online

With the New Zealand Stock Exchange climbing to record highs, the number of online traders is booming too.

Direct Broking - which does 60 per cent of its trades online - has seen its business jump after scooping up Access' client list for $200,000 after it folded in September last year.

"There was a dip in the first week, but things are much better now," says managing director Nigel Wynn. "Online trading's up 70 to 80 per cent for us."

Access collapsed after chairman Bill Garlick - who was running the firm while managing director Peter Marshall was on sick leave - notified the NZX of a problem. The NZX found a $5 million shortfall in the $47 million Access should have been holding in its clients' accounts. Its right to trade shares was immediately suspended.

Mr Wynn says shareholders saw Access as the problem, not online broking.

"The majority of people have stayed. They've been a bit more cautious about doing trades, but it's settled down now," he says.

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