Retail investors are piling into equities on growing hopes of economic recovery as they hoover up shares at a rate not seen for two years. They are snapping up cyclical stocks â typically bought on hopes of a revival â amid a wave of rising risk appetite, according to Capita Registrars. Michael Kempe, operations director of Capita, said purchases of cyclical stocks outweighed defensive stocks by four to one as private investor shareholdings rise for the first time since November 2007, outpacing the broader market recovery. âRetail investors are investing in recovery,â he said. âNot only have they put more money back into shares, but theyâre targeting riskier investments too, beginning to rebalance their portfolios back towards growth following two years of risk aversion.â Share buying by these investors hit £902m ($1.5bn) in April and May, taking the total reinvested since October to £2.5bn. This is more than half the £4.5bn they withdrew from UK equities between the start of 2007 and summer 2008. May was also the eighth consecutive month in which investors bought more shares than they sold as equities looked more attractive than other asset classes such as property, bank and building society savings accounts and government bonds. Over the two months to the end of May, the FTSE All-Share index rose 12.5 per cent, but the value of private investor holding was up 15 per cent to £130.1bn, making up 9.5 per cent of the market. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/782bb4d2-5cf2-11de-9d42-00144feabdc0.html Retail investors...recovery "hopes"?