Russians slowly embrace shares

11 Mar, 2008 03:33 / Updated 16 years ago

There are signs that Russians are falling in love with the stock market, with courses and actual trades becoming increasingly popular. Most experts say there's money to be made for the savvy investor.

Russia's recent stock market boom has prompted more people to take up share trading and courses in how to play the markets have become increasingly popular. Russia is only at the beginning of a trading boom. Less than half a percent of all Russians own shares, while 50% of all Americans are somehow investing in the stock market. “The local market is very thin. In America we have 3 thousand shares on the NYSE, another 7 thousand on the Nasdaq. There is a huge choice of stocks – here you have 12 blue chips,” Aleksandr Elder, professional stock trader, said. The last few years have seen household names such as VTB, Sberbank, and Gazprom being joined by numerous smaller players from a range of sectors in placing shares on the market. It is expected they'll soon be joined by Rusal and Kamaz amongst others.