Winterflood Business Services' Ben Centa: UK investors remain seated with seatbelts fastened

Headlines have painted a picture of market chaos over the last couple of months. Panicked retail investors have apparently been crowding the exit rows.

So, it may come as a surprise to discover that, behind the scenes, that is not what we saw here. In fact, looking at UK RSP data (a trading execution platform that can be seen as a proxy for the retail market), a different story emerges: retail investors did not flinch. Broadly speaking, they responded with calm rationality and even a strong hint of opportunism. Gilts, for example, saw no net change; rather, we saw a consistently small net buy of around £100m. Fixed income ETFs saw a drop from about flat to a net sell of £150m, whereas general ETFs saw a slow and steady net buy of £25...