Retail investors take a step back on higher market volatility

Institutional share of trading turnover has been rising as markets fell from highs

Individual investors, especially smaller retail ones, may be taking a breather as higher volatility takes markets down from its pandemic highs.

Foreign portfolio investors, mutual funds, proprietary entities and banks account for a greater proportion of cash market turnover than at any point since the pandemic began, shows an analysis of exchange and regulatory data.

The average share of these institutional investors on a three-month rolling basis is 48.1 per cent as of regulatory data up to December 2021. This is the highest in at least 30 months (see chart 1). This comes even as markets have fallen from their