 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 | ||||
Internet brokers get the market minnow... Epic tale of love, rivalry and stock opt... Amazing merger of man and machin... Apple aims to reclaim its special place ... The Net prepares to virtually raise the ... Big crackdown on counterfeit softwar... Hi-tech bid to beat mosquito diseas... Who cares if it's never used - bloatware... What to do when upgrade fever strike... Bogus e-mail on the Interne... Believe it or not, Porsche has style but... New CD holds 800 times more dat... Torture chambers and grisly assassinatio... Tips and tweaks to help you to the roo... Learning to have some serious fu... Helping children improve maths spee... The cutting edge of fashion technolog... E-mail that will make you sit up and lis... Mobile PC users get performance boos... Everything you need to get connecte... Helping you to get started on the Intern... |
Internet brokers get the market minnows
SHARE BUYING
TOO scared to phone a stockbroker with your trifling R1 000 order? Internet stockbroking attracts not only the shy but any investors who wish to do it themselves as far as the JSE allows. Paul Theron of MST Online, the first SA stockbroker to offer Internet dealing, says this kind of trade is outgrowing traditional dealing. "The medium empowers the private client to do his own research on company information, news, charting and so on. While the JSE still requires orders to be executed by a registered trader, anyone can deal on the MST system if he or she has opened an account and has the cash." Clients follow the instructions and enter their orders on the website at any time for execution when the JSE is open. Theron notes that the private client is often discouraged by the high basic charges payable at some firms. Selling itself as a discount shop with limited research, MST offers free accounts and charges 0.75% of the value of the deal or R75 for deals of less than R10 000. MST Online is 80% owned by Theron, the directors of MST and online Internet news service Woza. The other 20% is held by Archway Venture Capital Partners, backed by Dimension Data, Standard Bank and Gensec. Since it opened in December 1996, MST Online has processed deals worth more than R350-million - "a substantial part of the total electronic commerce concluded to date in SA", according to Theron. It also acts as broker with regard to investments in unit trusts at a third of the usual commission, offshore funds, life insurance and more - hence a broader based broking operation than just stockbroking. MST Online has introduced three niche portfolios. These are the highly speculative "White Knuckle" fund, which has a mailgroup with 3 500 subscribers, the long-term blue-chip buyer, "Wide Eyed", and the least risky "Weak Knees" managed money fund. The White Knuckle fund is wrapped in an endowment product through Incentive Life, a newly licensed life assurer run by former Norwich Life man Chris van der Walt. The minimum investment is R5 000, of which 5% pays an endowment premium and the balance is invested in shares selected by Rob Turner of MST Online. Investments mature after five years and are tax free. "White Knuckle differs from unit trusts in that every deal is recorded on our web site (www.mst.co.za) and we issue weekly reports with commentary," says Theron.
|