Selling by retail investors causing market volatility

Large increases in volatility have become a regular feature for European equity investors over the past four to five years, according to Robert Buckland, analyst at SchroderSalomonSmithBarney (SSSB). Buckland says around 20% of the DJ Stoxx Index, made up of companies 150 stocks, moved by over 5% a day during March. He adds the latest upturn is comparable to that seen during the last bear market rally in September 2002. Buckland says the sustained level of asset volatility is now greater than it was around the 1987 equity crash or the 1990-91 Gulf war, adding the war with Iraq cann...