Investor confidence is slowly returning, according to the latest quarterly index report from wealth platform Sharesies.
Sharesies offers investing in shares, savings accounts, KiwiSaver and car insurance. Over 800,000 people across New Zealand and Australia use the platform and it has over $8 billion assets on the platform.
On Tuesday, Sharesies released its quarterly index report for April to June, which found investors on the platform were in the "balanced" investor confidence category.
Investor confidence is ranked from a scale of 0 (concerned) to 100 (extremely confident) through aggregated anonymised data. The platform considers a "balanced" range 40 to 54 and describes this category as users taking “a more balanced approach to investing, weighing up both risk and returns”.
The change in investor mood comes after Sharesies saw a slump towards the end of the previous quarter with investors taking on a cautious mindset. This cautiousness happened at a time when global markets braced themselves for US President Donald Trump's global tariffs.
There was fluctuation during the June quarter however, with investor sentiment peaking at 55 and decreasing to 41 - the report says 55 borders on Sharesies’ "confident" category and 41 borders on "cautious".
Sharesies co-founder and co-chief executive Sonya Williams says from what could be seen on the platform, there were steady deposits, more buying than selling and people continuing to invest.
“When we talk about investor confidence, this is about people really continuing to grow their wealth in the long term and understanding that things can be volatile along the way.”
'Increasing interest in diversified investment options'
Williams says the platform has noticed a change in behaviour in the last wee while with people investing a bit more into exchange-traded funds (ETFs) over individual companies.
The report found the percentage invested in companies on Sharesies remained “lower than usual this quarter, averaging 64%, and follows a drop in March”.
“This suggests investors continued to show an increasing interest in diversified investment options like exchange-traded funds and managed funds alongside individual company stocks," the report says.
But the second half of the quarter saw the percentage invested in companies trending up as multiple weeks went above 70% - the report suggests this could mean a "gradual return to company-specific investing as market sentiment stabilises".
As for ETFs and managed funds, the five most-owned investments on the platform were Smart US 500 ETF, Pathfinder Global Responsibility Fund, Vanguard 500 Index Fund ETF, Smart NZ Top 50 ETF and Mercer All Country Global Shares Index Fund.
When it came to companies, the five-most owned investments were Air New Zealand, NVIDIA, Tesla, Apple and Rocket Lab.
Since March, there has been a 5% increase in the number of users investing in NVIDIA.
'Buying holding up through periods of increased volatility'
A Sharesies spokesperson says trading volumes were $2.7 billion in the June quarter. This isn't far off from the March quarter, which saw $2.89 billion in trading volumes.
In April, Sharesies had a record month for deposits at $208 million. Its net deposit ratio - which measures the flow of funds into and out of Sharesies’ invest and save products - was averaging 2.03 for the April to June quarter. This means for every $1 withdrawn, $2 was deposited.
The net deposit ratio for this quarter was higher than the previous quarter.
As for Sharesies’ net buy/sell ratio, the average was 1.19. The platform’s net buy/sell ratio measures the gap between total buying and selling values. A ratio above one signals buying surpasses selling.
The ratio of 1.19, according to the report, "reinforces a continued bias toward buying".
"Investor behaviour was even as markets wavered, with buying holding up through periods of increased volatility."
And while the ratio slowly softened at the end of the quarter, the report says the sustained trend suggests investors were staying engaged.
Investing in emerging technologies
Sharesies has noticed a smaller group of investors are exploring newly-listed companies, especially those in the emerging technologies sector.
This trend, according to Sharesies' report, coincides with an increase in listings globally. "As of 28 June 2025, there have been 166 IPOs on the US stock market - up 76.6% compared to the same time last year - broadening the range of investment options available," the report says.
This sector includes AI, Crypto, autonomous vehicles and defence technology.
Williams says "we're seeing a growing subset of investors investing in these new opportunities and new industries ... there are these future technologies [and] people are taking interest".
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